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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 5856

Ralph O. Brinkhurst; The position of the Haplotaxidae in the evolution of oligochaete annelids. Hydrobiologia 115:25-36, 1984

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The Haplotaxidae have all the characteristics to support the hypothesis that they are the living descendents of the stem forms from which all of the Oligochaeta Clitellata (Orders Lumbriculida, Haplotaxida, Lumbricida, Tubificida) can be derived. The Aphanoneura are distinct from the Clitellata and are raised to a separate Class. There is no evidence to support the view that the elaborate setae of many Tubificida are derived from a polychaete ancestry; both are held to be independent modifications to aquatic life derived from a simple burrowing protoannelid with lumbricine setae.