Oligochaeta (Annelida: Clitellata) associated to aquatic macrophytes in Brazil

Abstract

Oligochaeta are still characterized as a poorly studied group among the aquatic macroinvertebrates and few studies about their ecology were conducted in Brazil. Thus, our study aimed to provide an overview of the association between Oligochaeta and macrophytes, in Brazilian continental aquatic environments, by means of a literature review along with an inventory of species associated to aquatic macrophytes on marginal lagoons in the reservoir Ribeirão das Anhumas (Américo Brasiliense, São Paulo, Brazil). In the review, we analyzed 10 articles, where we obtained data on 41 species. We also sampled 5 macrophyte genera, Egeria, Salvinia, Utricularia, Eleocharis, and Ceratophyllum, from August to December 2012 and in March and April 2013, in the reservoir Ribeirão das Anhumas. We registered 21 Oligochaeta species associated to these macrophytes. With the data obtained in the review along with the inventory of the reservoir Ribeirão das Anhumas, we found a total of 41 species associated to aquatic macrophytes, with a higher richness of the Naididae family (93.33%), followed by Opistocystidae (4.44%), and Alluroididae (2.22%). Our study inventoried about 48% of the Oligochaeta diversity registered in continental ecosystems in Brazil, thus highlighting the significance of macrophytes as a resource for these invertebrates, mainly for the Naididae family.