Keywords
How to Cite
Abstract
Like insects, earthworms are among the animals most frequently encountered by many Floridians. Our kids play with them, dissect them in middle school biology, we fish with them, they crawl across our sidewalks and live in our flowerpots. Despite this, their ecological and economic importance often goes unrecognized. Earthworms have several important ecological roles. Additionally, some species are used commercially for bait, animal feed, environmental remediation, and composting. This 6-page fact sheet was written by William T. Crow and published by the UF Department of Entomology and Nematology, September 2012.
References
Catania, KC. 2008. Worm grunting, fiddling, and charming-humans unknowingly mimic a predator to harvest bait. PLos ONE 3:e3472. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003472
Edwards, CA, Bohlen, PJ. 1996. Biology and Ecology of Earthworms, 3rd ed. Chapman and Hall, New York, NY.
Edwards, CA, Arancon NQ, Sherman R. 2011. Vermiculture Technology. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. https://doi.org/10.1201/b10453
Hendrix, PF. 1995. Earthworm Ecology and Biogeography. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL.
Jamieson, BGM. 1988. On the phylogeny and higher classification of the Oligochaeta. Cladistics 4: 367-410. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-0031.1988.tb00520.x
Potter, DA, Redmond CT, Meepagala KM, Williams DW. 2009. Managing earthworm casts (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) in turfgrass using a natural byproduct of tea oil (Camellia sp.) manufacture. Pest Management Science 66: 439-446. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.1896
Reynolds, JW. 1994. Earthworms of Florida (Oligochaeta: Acanthodrilidae, Eudrilidae, Glossoscolecidae, Lumbricidae, Megascolecidae, Ocnerodrilidae, Octochaetidae, and Sparganophilidae). Megadrilogica 5: 125-141.
Sims, RW, Gerard BM. 1985. Earthworms. The Pitman Press, Bath, UK.