Foogle Business - Human Parasites - Worms - About Worms - The Mighty Worm - dogs, cats, animals, Other Invertebrates - Platyhelminthes, Annelida, Nemertea, Aschelminthes, Sipuncula, Echiura, Acanthocephala, Pogonophora, Chaetognatha

EARTH WORMS - also called angleworm any one of more than 1,800 species of terrestrial worms of the class Oligochaeta - Phylum Annelida, in particular, members of the genus Lumbricus. Seventeen native species and 13 introduced species, from Europe, occur in the eastern United States, L. Terrestris being the most common. Earthworms occur in virtually all soils of the world in which the moisture and organic content are sufficient to sustain them.

An Australian species can grow as long as 3.3 meters or about 11 feet. L. Terrestris grows to about 25 centimeters or 10 inches. This species is reddish brown, but some earthworms, e.g., Allolobophora chlorotica, native to Great Britain, are green. The reddish tinge of L. Terrestris results from the presence of the pigment hemoglobin in its blood.

The earthworm body is divided into ring-like segments, as many as 150 in L. Terrestris. Some internal organs, including the excretory organs, are duplicated in each segment. Between segments 32 and 37 is the clitellum, a slightly bulged, discolored organ that produces a cocoon for enclosing the earthworm's eggs. The body is tapered at both ends, with the tail end the blunter of the two. Earthworms cannot see or hear, but they are sensitive to both light and vibrations.

Their food consists of decaying organisms; as they eat, however, earthworms also ingest large amounts of soil, sand, and tiny pebbles. It has been estimated that an earthworm ingests and discards its own weight in food and soil every day.

Earthworms are hermaphroditic; i.e., functional reproductive organs of both sexes occur in the same individual. The eggs of one individual, however, are fertilized by the sperm of another individual. During mating two earthworms are bound together by a sticky mucus while each transfers sperm to the other. The worms separate and form cocoons; the cocoon moves forward, picking up eggs at the 14th segment; at the 9th and 10th segments it picks up the sperm deposited by the other earthworm. The cocoon slides over the head, and fertilization takes place. Within 24 hours after the worms mate, the cocoon is deposited in the soil.

Miniature earthworms usually emerge from the cocoon after two to four weeks. They become sexually mature in 60 to 90 days and attain full growth in about one year. Earthworms usually remain near the soil surface, but they are known to tunnel as deep as 2 m during periods of dryness or in winter. One Asian species is known to climb trees to escape drowning after heavy rainfall.

Earthworms provide food for a large variety of birds and animals. Indirectly they provide food for man by their beneficial effects on plant growth: they aerate the soil, promote drainage, and draw organic material into their burrows where it decomposes faster, thus producing more nutritive materials for growing plants. Earthworms also serve as fish bait; hence, the name angleworm.

In one acre of land there can be up to one million earthworms.

Worms, some say, have been around in one form or shape for about 600 million years. We actually share some DNA with all worms. There are perhaps up to 35,000 different types of these legless invertebrates, that we call worms. Some scurry about on the surface of the land, some live just beneath, whilst others bury themselves deep into the Earth's surface. Many live in the sea, and some have been found deep down on the bottom. Some are so small you cannot see them with the naked-eye, others are so big, they could be snakes. An Earthworm can live for ten years, living and eating in our gardens. They have no eyes, or ears and never sleep. Pound for pound, as they are made of mostly muscle they can be 1,000 times stronger than the strongest man, so next time you call a person a worm, think.

A medium sized garden has probably got over 20,000 Earthworms, living composters, and other types slowly living their lives quite unperturbed at what goes on all around them. the longest Earthworm, The African Giant Worm, is up to an amazing 8 meters. That is around 25 feet, longer than a car.

Charles Darwin, the Father of Evolution thought that the worms were the most important of all creatures because they, break down rotting vegetation and help new flora grow. Along with Termites they are the world's top recyclers.

EVOLUTION

TERMITES

RAINFOREST

Worms

Any of various unrelated invertebrate animals that typically have soft, slender, elongated bodies and usually lack appendages. Worms are members of several invertebrate phyla, including

    Platyhelminthes - Flatworms

    Annelida - Worms with segments

Nereis

Mealworms - Not worms but insect larvae

    Nemertea - Ribbon worms

    Aschelminthes

- Includes Roundworms, Pinworms, Eelworms, Threadworms & Hairworms

    Sipuncula - peanutworms

    Echiura   - Spoonworms

     Acanthocephala - Spiny-headed worms

    Pogonophora - Beardworms

    Chaetognatha - Arrow-worms

WORMS

The term is also loosely applied to centipedes and millipedes; to larval immature forms of other invertebrates, particularly those of certain insects; and to some vertebrates—e.g., the blindworm (Anguis fragilis), a limbless, snakelike lizard. At one time all phyla of wormlike animals were classed as Vermes, a term no longer in common use.
The major groups of worms include various species of flatworm, annelid, ribbon worm, spiny-headed worm, and aschelminth (qq.v.). Worms typically have an elongated, tube like body, usually rather cylindrical, flattened, or leaflikein shape and often without appendages. They vary in size from less than 1 mm (0.04 inch) in certain aschelminths to more than 30 m (100 feet) in certain ribbon worms.
Worms are universal in distribution, occurring in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. Some types of worms are parasitic, others are free-living. From a human perspective, worms are important as soil conditioners (e.g., annelids, aschelminths) and as parasites of people and domestic animals (e.g., platyhelminths, aschelminths) and of crops (e.g., aschelminths). Ecologically, worms form an important link in the food chains in virtually all ecosystems of the world.