Typhlosole
Encyclopedia
A typhlosole is an internal fold of the intestine
Intestine
In human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...

 or intestine inner wall. Typhlosoles occur in bivalve mollusks, lamprey
Lamprey
Lampreys are a family of jawless fish, whose adults are characterized by a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. Translated from an admixture of Latin and Greek, lamprey means stone lickers...

s and some annelid
Annelid
The annelids , formally called Annelida , are a large phylum of segmented worms, with over 17,000 modern species including ragworms, earthworms and leeches...

s and echinoderm
Echinoderm
Echinoderms are a phylum of marine animals. Echinoderms are found at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone....

s.

In earthworm
Earthworm
Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...

s, it is a dorsal flap of the intestine
Intestine
In human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...

 that runs along most of its length. Its function is to increase intestine surface area for more efficient absorption of digested nutrients. In different earthworm
Earthworm
Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...

 families, the typhlosole appears to have multiple origins. The Lumbricidae
Lumbricidae
The Lumbricidae is a family of earthworms which includes most of the earthworm species well known to Europeans. About 33 lumbricid species have become naturalized around the world, but the bulk of the species are in Holarctic: from Canada and the United States The Lumbricidae is a family of...

, for example, have a typhlosole which is an infolding of all layers of the intestine wall, whereas in some other families (e.g. Megascolecidae
Megascolecidae
Megascolecidae is a large family of earthworms which has native representatives in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast and East Asia, and North America. The most ancient lineages of the family show a Gondwanan distribution and have been used as evidence of continental drift. Members of the Pheretima...

), it is an infolding of only the inner layer, and in many earthworms it is absent.
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