Acanthodrilinae 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 : 682-683

Subfamily Acanthodrilinae Claus, 1880

Characterisation of Acanthodrilinae species (considering the indigenous and introduced ones in RSA; after Pickford (1937)): Prostates tubular, with a central duct (two pairs, or one pair, or absent). Calciferous glands absent (in all South African species). Male reproductive organs acanthodriline, microscolecine or balantine. Gizzard oesophageal, variably developed, present or absent. Excretory system holoic; nephridia vesiculate or avesiculate. Holandric or some proandric. Spermathecae present or absent; if present, two pairs or one pair; diverticulate. Male pores present or absent; if present, paired, in 17 or 18 or 19. Prostatic pores two pairs, each pair in 17 and 19, or 18 and 20, respectively; or one pair in segment 17, 18 or 19. Clitellum saddle-shaped or ringshaped. Setae lumbricine, paired variably: closely or not quite, sometimes changing the dividing distance on some segments. Body cylindrical, size variable; length 20–370 mm. Pigmentation present or lacking.

Notes: Representatives of the subfamily are predominantly from Central and South America and parts of the western and southern African continent. However, a number of the family species are recorded widely throughout the southern hemisphere (Blakemore 2010). On the African continent they occur in the western, central and eastern regions, and in RSA indigenous representatives of the five genera, Chilota , Eodriloides , Parachilota , Udeina , with one indigenous species, and two broadly distributed species of the genus Microscolex Rosa, 1887 , are known.