Today I decided to choose the Earthworm as my animal of study. Earthworms are invertebrates with a segmented trunk.They have a few interesting characteristics for study . They are hermaphrodite, which means they have two pairs of reproductive organs, both male and female. these consists of both testes and ovaries located on different segments. Two earthworms will lie close together and release sperm into the other worms ovaries, and they will then deposit the eggs which have been fertilised into coccoons. The baby earthworms will emerge fully formed , however they will be sexually immature.
Another interesting characteristic about earthworms - they can regenerate. Many people believe that you can cut a earthworm up many times over and the pieces will grow back. However, this is erroneous. The actual regeneration depends on the species and the extent of the damage to the trunk.
Earthworms move by alternately expanding and contracting their segmented bodies. They have an important function of enriching soil as they crawl through and tunnel through earth, which is ingested from the mouth in front and excreted after it passes through the gut of the worm. The dead leaves ( compost) and humus and other organic matter are deposited as worm casts. The soil is also aerated and loosened and this makes it more fertile.
The Detailed classification of the American Earthworm is as follows:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Clitellata
Order: Haplotaxida
Sub-order: Lumbricina
I'll read more about the various classifications and write it up tomorrow. Maybe I can find some classification of Singapore Earthworms!
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