Eudrilus eugeniae ( Kinberg, 1867 )

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 : 686

Eudrilus eugeniae ( Kinberg, 1867)

Description: Body length 110–157 mm (raised under special conditions by Viljoen & Reinecke (1994) they reached 250–400 mm). Dorsally violetish-brown, iridescent, ventrally light yellow. Setae lumbricine, closely paired (with exclusion of first and the last segment). Prostomium epilobous. Dorsal pores absent. Clitellum saddle-shaped ( Fig. 5B ) on 13, 14–18, less developed ventrally. Male pores and prostatic pores combined in intersegmental furrow 17/18 between setal lines c. Female pores combined with spermathecal pores, in 14, median to setal lines cc. Septa 4/5–8/9 and 14/15 thickened. Lateral hearts in 7–11. Gizzard variably muscular in 5. Calciferous glands paired, in 12. Holandric. Excretory system holoic; a pair of large nephridium in each segment, starting in 5. Seminal vesicles in 11 and 12. Prostates paired, large, with enlarged central duct (this structure sometimes is named ‘euprostate’). Ovaries, ovisac, and ental end of oviducts united with spermathecae forming united organ.

Notes: This species is biparental, characterised by internal fertilisation. Successful cocoon production by adult worms was reported by Reineke and Viljoen (1988), who indicated a mean of 2.7 hatchlings per cocoon with an 84 % hatchling success rate.

Figures

Fig. 5. Clitellum: (A) annular (schematic); (B) saddle-shaped (schematic).