Eudrilidae Claus, 1880

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 : 685

Family Eudrilidae Claus, 1880

Eudrilids are tropical and subtropical African taxa. Currently ca. 350 species of 45 genera, mostly endemic or indigenous to African tropics and subtropics, are known. From these only one species Eudrilus eugeniae ( Kinberg, 1867) is known as anthropochorous and has become cultured in many parts of the world. At present it is one of the common earthworm species in West African soils and it is widely distributed in many parts of the world. Primarily imported to RSA for a specific experimental study ( Reinecke & Viljoen 1988, Reinecke et al. 1992; Reinecke et al. 1992; Viljoen & Reinecke 1994), it is adapting to habitats in this country. Being a tropical species it has the ability to survive under customary South African environmental conditions. It is a composting species used in the commercial production of compost, at vermicomposting farms, and in worm production for various uses. Other eudrilids ( Eudriloides durbanensis Beddard, 1893 , Nemertodrilus kellneri Michaelsen, 1912 , N. kruegeri Zicsi & Reinecke, 1992 and N. transvaalensis Zicsi & Reinecke, 1992 ) reported by Plisko (2010) for RSA as introduced species are probably native to South African soils and are not included in this paper.