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2. Tlie Filaria Worm Wuchereria boncrofti (Cobbold) which lives in the blood of man
causing fllariasis, and
3. The Guinea Worm Dracunculus medinensis (Linnaeus)
These are occasionally met with in Maharashtra.
Free living worms inhabit soil, freshwater and the sea and its shore.
PHYLUM ANNELIDA RINGED ANIMALS- This phylum includes earthworms,
leeches and other ringed animals of which some lives on land, a few in freshwater and a
few others in the sea. Their known species roughly total about 7,000.
Systematic List of the land and freshwater forms occurring in Maharashtra.
Class : Chaetopoda.
Order : Oligaehaeta (Earthworms)
Sub-order : Archioligochaeta.
Series : Naidina,
Family : Naididae.
Small aquatic worms seldom exceeding an inch in length.
Setae usually to four bundles per segment—two dorsal and two ventral. Dorsal bundles
are sometimes wanting.
1. Chaetogaster bengalensis (Annandale). Commensal on several species of freshwater
snails like Limnaea sp. and on sponges Spongiiia carteri and Ephydatia fluviatilis.
Locality : Satara, Western Ghats.
2. Chaetogaster spongilliae (Annandale). Feeds on organic debris of decaying parts of
sponges ; movement by wriggling.
Locality : Khandala, Western Ghats, Poona District, in Spongilla crateriformis
3. Nais communis- Piguet var. punjabensis. Length 2-14 mm. Segments 18-32. Light
brown. Found inhabiting tubes abandoned bv insect larvae.
Locality : Khandala, Western Ghats, Poona District.
Genus: Pristinu Ehrbg.
Prostomium prolonged into a mobile proboscis. Dorsal bundles beginning in ii,
consisting of hair setae and needles with simple or bifid point.
4. Pristina longiseta Ehrbg., f. typica.
Length : 3.5-5.5 mm. 20-33 segments. Whitish ; no eyes. Locality : Bombay.
Genus: Aulophous Schmarda
Prostomium well-developed, rounded, ventral setae beginning in v or vi.
FAUNA 665