Rest In Peace Mr. Worm
Earthworm Dissection Pre-AP Biology April 9, 2014
Lumbricus terrestris
An earthworm's body is made up of ring-like segments called annuli, those are covered by hairs that help the worm in movement and digging. Earthworms are indigenous to europe, but are now abundant in North America and Western Asia. An earthworm's niche is that its very flexible and boneless this helps them crawl into small holes through the dirt. many species that feed on earthworms are birds and mammals and earthworms get their nutrients through dirt so they don't exactly have a prey to go for.
Objective!
Students will learn about the internal and external anatomy of an earthworm. Student will focus on the organs,the digestive system, and how it all functions. They will also describe the appearance and placement of organs.
Dissection of digestive system
Mouth, Pharynx, Heart, Crop, Dorsal blood vessel Intestine, and Citellum.
It won't bite!
Minutes before the dissection.
External Dissection
Crop, esophagus, harynx, mouth, pharyngeal muscles, gizzard, intestine, and anus.
MASSIVE EARTHWORM
A massive Australian earthworm can grow up to 9 feet long!
Taxonomy Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Clitellata
Subclass: Oligochaeta
Order: Haplotaxida
Family: Lumbricidae
Gneus: Lumbricus
Species: Terrestris
OH YUMMY!
Earthworm predators include frogs, birds, snakes, raccoons, skins, moles, rats etc. Since the earthworm gets all of its nutrients from the soil it is full and loaded of protein so many animals want to eat it because ether need this protein.