Illinois Natural History Survey Annelida Collection
The INHS Annelida Collection is perhaps the largest state collection of freshwater oligochaetes in the country, holding more than 305,000 specimens (over 6,300 lots, or collections). Approximately 210,000 specimens are permanently mounted on microscope slides; the remaining specimens are stored in alcohol in vials and jars. With the exception of one monospecific order - the Acanthobdellida, or bristle worms - the collection includes representatives of the other major Annelida groups: Aphanoneura (the head-crawling, or suction-feeding worms, including representatives of one family, Aeolosomatidae); Branchiobdellida (the crayfish worms, including representatives of the families Bdellodrilidae, Cambarincolidae, and Xironodrilidae); Hirudinea (the leeches, including representatives of families Haemopidae, Hirudinidae, Erpobdellidae, Glossiphoniidae, and Piscicolidae); the Oligochaeta, with representatives of the aquatic microdrile worms (families Enchytraeidae, Haplotaxidae, Lumbriculidae, Naididae, Opistocystidae, and Tubificidae), and the terrestrial megadrile worms (families Acanthodrilidae, Komarekionidae, Lumbricidae, Megascolecidae, and Sparganophilidae); and Polychaeta (sand worms, tube worms, or clam worms - primarily marine) including a few representatives of the families Capitellidae and Sabellidae. The INHS Annelida Collection includes representatives of many worm species that have limited known distributions in North America. Currently, none of the annelids known or thought likely to occur in Illinois is listed as endangered or threatened by either the federal government or by the State of Illinois, nor are there any under consideration for such listing.

The geographic scope of the INHS Annelida Collection is about 74% from Illinois; 25% from elsewhere in North America (collections from the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia, and from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island); and 1% from other countries, including the Bahamas, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, India, Jamaica, Lesser Antilles (Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, Granada, Nexis, St. Lucia), The Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Sweden, and Venezuela.

A more extensive synopsis of this collection is available HERE.

A current checklist of the aquatic Annelida occurring in Illinois is available HERE.

Annelid Collection Staff

Mark J. Wetzel, Curator / Collection Manager

Annelid Related Publications at the INHS

Publications discussing the distribution, ecology, taxonomy, and systematics of Annelida occurring in Illinois are included in the literature section of the following website: The Aquatic Annelida Of Illinois.

Go to the Scientific Collections Page

Go to the CBD General Info. Page

Go to the Center for Biodiversity

Illinois Natural History Survey

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Last Modified 3/2/01