Eukerria saltensis (Beddard, 1895)

Plisko, Jadwiga D. & Nxele, Thembeka C., 2015, An annotated key separating foreign earthworm species from the indigenous South African taxa (Oligochaeta: Acanthodrilidae, Eudrilidae, Glossoscolecidae, Lumbricidae, Megascolecidae, Microchaetidae, Ocnerodrilidae and Tritogeniidae), African Invertebrates 56 (3), pp. 663-663 : 701-702

Eukerria saltensis (Beddard, 1895)

Description: Length 35–63 mm. Colour variable: grey, sometimes with greenish tint. Setae lumbricine, paired. Prostomium epilobous. Spermathecal pores with tumescence at intersegmental furrows 7/8 and 8/9, median to line of c seta. Clitellum saddle-shaped, nearly annular on 13, 14–19, 20, separated ventrally by two longitudinal seminal grooves connecting the prostate pores of 17 and 19, and male pores in 18. Gizzard in 7. Calciferous glands, one pair in 9. Proandric. Nephridia avesiculate (in some segments absent or rudimentary). Spermathecae paired in 8 and 9. Tubular prostates thin, may extend into 3–7 segments.

Notes: The species may be aquatic or littoral, although it has also been noted in terrestrial biotopes. The number of new occurrences noted recently worldwide may be connected with increased exotic gardening, freshwater angling, intense port activities, and probably also with climate change, which is affecting aquatic systems by raising water temperatures, and increasing environmental changes ( Rota 2013). In RSA the species has been recorded in a number of littoral biotopes by Jamieson (1967), Ljungström (1972), and Viser and Reinecke (1977). In NMSAD more than twenty records are noted (Plisko 2010).

It should be noted that the clitellum is nearly ‘annular’ although it does not cover the ventral part of the body and it is separated by longitudinal seminal grooves, as noted by Rota (2013). In this paper it is described as ‘saddle-shaped’, following the descriptions of the clitellum included in the Glossary.