First italian record of the terrestrial polychaete parergodrilus heideri reisinger, with anatomical and ecological notes

Abstract

The minute terrestrial polychaete Parergodrilus heideri Reisinger, 1925 (Parergodrilidae) is reported from a centuries-old mixed beech and silver fir forest at La Verna (Arezzo, central Italy). This European species had never been recorded previously from within the Alpine arc and at such a low latitude. A survey of its peculiar anatomical traits and systematic position is presented. The composition of the whole annelid coenosis at the sampling site is provided. Parergodrilus cohabits there with the only other truly terrestrial polychaete genus so far known, Hrabeiella Pizl & Chalupský, 1984. © 1997 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.