Ocnerodrilidae Beddard, 1891

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

Ocnerodrilidae Beddard, 1891

Currently ca. 181 species are described and located in 21 genera (Blakemore 2010; Csuzdi 2012). Ocnerodrilinae occur mainly in tropical/subtropical South America and Africa, with some species extending into the temperate zone of Central and North America, and the European northern hemisphere, while Malabarinae are restricted to India and the Seychelles Islands. Christoffersen (2008) recorded 70 Ocnerodrilidae (with no family subdivision) species in South America, with South American endemics accounting for 86% of the taxa.A small ratio of them was assigned to a group distributed accidentally or intentionally by human actions. However, only two of these, Eukerria saltensis (Beddard, 1895) and Ocnerodrilus occidentalis Eisen, 1878 , are pantropical, extending also to the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere ( Rota 2013).

Important characters: Prostates tubular, variable, could be paired or 3 pairs with pores between 16–21. Male pores paired in 17 or 18, associated with openings of prostates, at ventral part of clitellum. Setae lumbricine, paired. Clitellum annular but does not cover the body completely on the ventral side, separated by seminal grooves (clitellum may be seen as saddle-shaped). Tubercula pubertatis absent. Gizzard present or absent. Spermathecae present or absent; if present, paired, in front of testis segments. Intestinal origin in 12. Calciferous glands oesophageal or absent. Seminal vesicles present. Last pair of hearts in 11. Holandric or proandric. Excretory system holoic, avesiculate. Intestinal caeca absent. Unpigmented.

Notes: Twenty-one genera are known from African and American tropical and subtropical areas and possibly also from adjacent regions ( Christoffersen 2008; Fragoso & Rojas 2009). Individuals are small, usually shorter than 130 mm, living in moist to semi-aquatic biotopes; they may be terrestrial, although they prefer moist, limnic or even aquatic environments. A few species have been transported intentionally or accidentally by humans ( Rota 2013). In RSA four species of four genera are known: Eukerria Michaelsen, 1935 ; Nematogenia Eisen, 1900 ; Ocnerodrilus Eisen, 1878 ; and Pygmaeodrilus Michaelsen, 1890 . From these only Eukerria saltensis (Beddard, 1895) may be accepted as an introduced taxa. The other species reported by Plisko (2010) need taxonomic revision to establish their original identity although they are included in the present paper. Some of them may be of African origin, or possibly indigenous to South Africa. The recent opinion of a few researchers ( Christoffersen 2008; Rota 2013) is that the Ocnerodrilidae form a homogeneous taxon and according to the classical phylogeny compose the most recent off-shoot from the ancestral root-genus of all megascolecoid forms.