''Rhynchelmis'' is the
genus of 30 species of aquatic
oligochaetes from the Northern Hemisphere, with 11 species from
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
and 19 from
Eurasia. They are part of the family
Lumbriculidae, which are among the largest of the
microdriles. They are generally defined as having atria in
segment X and
spermathecae in
segment VIII (Fend & Brinkhurst, 2000). The
prostomium generally has a
proboscis, from which the genus has got its name.
''Rhynchelmis'' contains several subgenera, all of which have previously held genus rank: ''Rhynchelmoides'' with four species, ''Sutroa'' with six species, and ''Pseudorhynchelmis'' with nine species. Further, four species - ''
Rh. aleutensis'', ''
Rh. brooksi'', ''
Rh. malevici'' and ''
Rh. orientalis'' - cannot positively be placed in any of the subgenera.
References
* Fend, S. V. & Brinkhurst, R. O. (2000): New species of ''Rhynchelmis'' (Clitellata, Lumbriculidae), with observations on the Nearctic species. ''Hydrobiologia'' 428: 1-59.
Lumbriculidae
Annelid genera
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