''Sparganophilus'', the only genus in the family Sparganophilidae, is a group of long, slender, limicolous (mud-dwelling)

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. Th ...

s native to

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 ...

. The number of species is unknown, most of them are undescribed, throughout the continent and into

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. One species, ''S. tamesis'', has been introduced into the streams of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, where it is now widespread; its synonyms are ''S. eiseni'', ''S. benhami'', ''S. guatemalensis'', ''S. carnea'', ''S. elongatus'', ''S. cuenoti'' and, newly, ''S. langi''.Cosmopolitan Earthworms (Blakemore, 2008)
''Sparganophilus'' species are characterised by a simple gut with no gizzard and no

typhlosole {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 A typhlosole is an internal fold of the intestine or intestine inner wall. Typhlosoles occur in bivalve mollusks, lampreys and some annelids and echinoderms. In earthworms, it is a dorsal flap of the intestine th ...

. They are true earthworms, having a complex vascular system with capillaries and having the male pores far behind the female pores. They were at one time placed in the earthworm family

Glossoscolecidae The Glossoscolecidae are a large family of earthworms (annelids) which has native representatives in South and Central America. The species '' Pontoscolex corethrurus'' has a circumtropical distribution. They are found mostly in forest, but one ...

, but at present are considered to constitute their own family. ''Sparganophilus'' species are commonly found in mud next to rivers and streams. They feed in the low oxygen mud and organic material, but with their highly vascularized posterior region on or near the surface. ''Sparganophilus'' has no accepted common name.

References

Haplotaxida {{annelid-stub