Stats

Lifespan

4-8 years

Size

Small

Diet

Decomposer

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

Holarctic region

Movement

Burrowing

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Burrowing

Status

Common

About

This segmented worm lives in damp soil throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It breathes through its skin and possesses five pairs of hearts to circulate its blood.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   cocoon

   A small lemon-shaped cocoon secreted by the clitellum shelters one or more developing worms in the soil until they hatch.
2. 2.
   juvenile

   A young worm hatches already resembling the adult but thinner and paler, without the swollen clitellum band.
3. 3.
   adult

   Fully grown, with a distinct saddle-like clitellum band near the head.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Annelida

Class

Clitellata

Order

Crassiclitellata

Family

Lumbricidae