microdrile

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”) + δρῖλος (drîlos, “worm”).

Noun

microdrile (plural microdriles)

1. Any relatively small, generally aquatic, oligochaete, a member of a sometimes used size-based division of the class Oligochaeta.
   • 1975, Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History): Zoology, volume 26, page 205:

     Before the study was begun, the known oligochaete fauna of Tasmania consisted of six species of aquatic microdriles, twenty-three indigenous species of megascolecid earthworms, and introduced earthworms of the family Lumbricidae.

   • 1981, Barrie Gillean Molyneux Jamieson, The Ultrastructure of the Oligochaeta, page 45:

     In microdriles the circular muscle is generally only weakly developed.

   • 1991, Zoological Survey of India, Animal Resources of India: Protozoa to Mammalia: State of the Art, page 164:

     Microdriles in our subcontinent are represented by three families of aquatic oligochaetes namely Naididae, Tubificidae and Phraeodrilidae, and terrestrial pot worms of the Enchytraeidae.

Coordinate terms

• megadrile

References

• microdrile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia