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An earthworm is a soil -dwelling terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. The term is the common name for the largest members of the class (or subclass, depending on the author) Oligochaeta. In classical systems, they were in the order of Opisthopora since the male pores opened posterior to the female pores, although the ...
Earthworms are shifting their ranges northwards into forests between 45° and 69° latitude in North America that have lacked native earthworms since the last ice age. [3] Of the 182 taxa of earthworms found in the United States and Canada, 60 (33%) are introduced species, these earthworm species are primarily from Europe and Asia.
The annelids / ˈænəlɪdz / (Annelida / əˈnɛlɪdə /, from Latin anellus, "little ring" [ 3 ][ a ]), also known as the segmented worms, are a large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to various ecologies – some in marine environments as distinct as ...
Eisenia foetida (older spelling) Eisenia fetida, known under various common names such as manure worm, [2] redworm, brandling worm, panfish worm, trout worm, tiger worm, red wiggler worm, etc., is a species of earthworm adapted to decaying organic material. These worms thrive in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure.
Earthworm head. Lumbricus terrestris is relatively large, pinkish to reddish-brown in colour, generally 110–200 millimetres (4.3–7.9 in) in length and about 7–10 millimetres (0.28–0.39 in) in diameter. It has around 120–170 segments, often 135–150. The body is cylindrical in the cross section, except for the broad, flattened ...
The clitellum is a thickened glandular and non-segmented section of the body wall near the head in earthworms and leeches that secretes a viscid sac in which eggs are stored. [1] It is located near the anterior end of the body, between the fourteenth and seventeenth segments. The number of the segments to where the clitellum begins and the ...
Approximately 182 earthworm taxa in twelve families are reported from the United States and Canada, of which sixty (about 33%) are introduced. [4] Only two genera of lumbricid earthworms are indigenous to North America while introduced genera have spread to areas without any native species, especially in the north where forest ecosystems rely on a large amount of undecayed leaf matter.
Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bodies that can lengthen and contract. Both groups are hermaphrodites and have a clitellum, but leeches ...