Eisenia Malm, 1877

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 : 692

Genus Eisenia Malm, 1877

Two species, E. fetida ( Savigny, 1826) and E. andrei Bouché, 1972 , are morphologically and anatomically alike but differ at a molecular level. Both species occur in RSA and may be identified using the following description of the genus.

Description: Body length 30–120 mm. Red-brown, with less pigmented intersegmental stripes, or dorsally more uniformly light purple, and yellow ventrally. Glandular swellings on the male pores may extend slightly onto neighbouring segments. Clitellum on segments 25, 26–32, 33. Tubercula pubertatis as narrow bands along ventral borders of clitellum covering three segments of 28, 29–30, 31. Septa 6/7–8/9 slightly thickened. Spermathecae and spermathecal pores paired, present in intersegmental furrows 9/10 and 10/11. Four pairs of seminal vesicles in segments 9–12. Calciferous glands in 10–12 without distinct lateral pouches. Holandric. Excretory system holoic, with nephridial bladders simple, sausage-shaped. Differ at a molecular level.

Notes: The original range of both species may be attributed to a forested-steppe area in the Caucasus, as suggested by Perel (1997). At present widely distributed; synantropic. Well known all worldwide as the manure earthworm. Common in composting heaps, decaying organic matter and damp rotting vegetation, and in nurseries and around barns. In recent decades has been widely distributed worldwide in the compost trade, and in vermicomposting farms for various uses. In RSA they are common in various biotopes and in vermicomposting. E. andrei has been used for various laboratory studies ( Reinecke & Kriel 1981; Venter & Reinecke 1987; Reinecke & Vijoen 1991). The recognition of E. andrei is still under discussion (Blakemore 2010). Voua Otomo et al. (2013) checked selected vermicomposting farms in RSA using molecular tools and concluded that there was no evidence of the presence of E. fetida in all the locations studied. E. fetida material at the NMSA was also investigated by Voua Otomo using molecular tools to check whether these belonged to E. fetida or E. andrei , but the investigation was inconclusive because of the material’s previous exposure to formalin; therefore, the two species are kept as separate species, as indicated by Pérez-Losada et al. (2005). However, because their distinction may be apparent only at a molecular level, the species identification should be based on the external characters described at the generic level.