Almidae Duboscq 1902

Almidae Duboscq, 1902

Together with Acanthodrilidae this is the most widely distributed family of earthworms (excluding exotic species), being found in tropical Africa, South-East Asia, South America and the Caribbean. It includes 64 species and four subspecies in seven genera. The genera Alma (16 spp.) and Callidrilus (3 spp.) are exclusively African, while the monospecific genus Progizzardus is unique to its type locality in India (Nair et al. 2010). The genus Glyphidrilus (36 spp.) is found mainly in Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka), with one species G. stuhlmanni Michaelsen, present in Africa (Tanzania). In South America and the Caribbean there are three genera present: Drilocrius, with seven species spread from Costa Rica to Southeastern Brazil, Glyphidrilocrius (1 sp.) in Amazonia, and Guarani (1 sp.; see below) in southernmost Brazil and probably Uruguay (Grosso & Brown 2007).

Omodeo (2000) suggested restricting Almidae to Alma, moving African Callidrilus and Asian Glyphidrilus to the Glyphidrilidae, which also included the South American Drilocrius, Glyphidrilocrius and Areco, but Guarani does not fit into either of his family definitions (Lima & Rodríguez 2007). Areco also does not fit with the Glyphidrilidae as defined by Omodeo (2000). Furthermore, Omodeo placed Criodrilus, Lutodrilus, Sparganophilus, Biwadrilus, and Komarekiona in an expanded Criodrilidae, but all of those latter are phylogenetically well-separated from Criodrilus (James & Davidson 2012) and each is the sole genus in their respective monogeneric families. At present we cannot clarify phylogenetic relationships among the genera either now or historically assigned to Almidae and/or Glyphidrilidae, because no single phylogenetic analysis includes adequate representation. For now, Almidae are placed between Glossoscolecidae s.s. and Rhinodrilidae in molecular phylogenies; where Alma and Guarani are present in the same analysis, they are sister taxa (James & Davidson 2012; Anderson et al. 2017). Will additional genera from South America (Steffen et al. 2018; Ferreira et al. 2023) change the picture? Preliminary indications say no.