Stats

Lifespan: 4-8 yrs
Size: Large
Diet: Herbivore
Activity: Nocturnal
Social: Solitary
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: Europe
Movement: Burrowing
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Burrowing
Status: Uncommon

About

A burrowing segmented worm that aerates soil by pulling leaf litter down into deep vertical tunnels. The pale band a third of the way along its body is the clitellum, which secretes the mucus cocoon for its eggs.

Life cycle

1.
cocoon
A small lemon-shaped cocoon secreted by the clitellum shelters one or more developing worms in the soil until they hatch.
2.
juvenile
A young worm hatches already resembling the adult but thinner and paler, without the swollen clitellum band.
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
Genus: Lumbricus
Species: Lumbricus terrestris