Treasure of the month April: giant earthworms

1 April 2018

Photo: UHH/RZZ, Mentz

Giant earthworms from the LIB collection.

Earthworms are important soil inhabitants that can contribute significantly to soil quality through their burrowing activity and excretions. Some earthworms can become very long; such giant earthworms are known mainly from Australia, Southeast Asia, Ecuador or South Africa, where they can grow to a length of up to three meters, and in exceptional cases to over six meters. In Europe, earthworms are significantly smaller, but long species are also found here.

The LIB, which houses the most extensive collection of earthworms and their close relatives in its Invertebrates I section, also has some large and long species. Strictly speaking, it is difficult to measure size accurately because earthworms can expand and contract greatly. Thus, even the extreme values given above should be viewed with caution. Some of the large earthworms also originate from Europe, namely from Romania. There occur several species from the genus Octodrilus, whose representatives can grow over half a meter long. They were collected and described by Viktor Pop in 1990. Pop gave part of the material to the Museum of Nature - Zoology. The worms are kept in especially long, slender jars that do not fit on any shelf and have to stand on the floor.