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The Oligochaeta or "few-bristled" worms (singular Oligochaete, IPA /ˈɒlɪgoʊˌkit/) are well-segmented Annelids, most with a spacious coelom that is used as a hydroskeleton. Their setae (chaetae) or "bristles" are generally few in number and they lack the parapodia of the polychaeta. They have external fertilization, but copulate and store sperm in a receptacle called a spermatheca. Like the leeches, they have a clitellum which secretes a "cocoon" into which both eggs and sperm are deposited and which acts as an incubator for the embryonic worms. They lack a trochophore larval stage.
This taxon contains mainly freshwater and semi-terrestrial forms, including the earthworms, the tubificids, pot worms, ice worms and many interstitial marine worms. Most are detritus feeders. Some genera are predaceous (Agriodrilus and Phagodrilus).
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