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Chance Observation of Escape Behavior of a lumbricid Earthworm, Aporrectodea caliginosa.


Owen J. [Sexton.sup.*]

Abstract: An observation suggests that the earthworm earthworm, terrestrial, cylindrical segmented worm of the class Oligochaeta. There are 2,200 earthworm species, found all over the world except in arid and arctic regions and ranging in size from 1 in. (2.5 cm) to the 11-ft (330-cm) giant worms of the tropics.  (Aporrectodea caliginosa) can escape predation predation

Form of food getting in which one animal, the predator, eats an animal of another species, the prey, immediately after killing it or, in some cases, while it is still alive. Most predators are generalists; they eat a variety of prey species.
 by the eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus) by emerging from leaf litter and traveling across its surface.

Although the diet of moles (Mammalia: Soricidae) has long been known to include earthworms (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) as a major component (German & Stone, 1990), there is little information available about the escape responses of earthworms in the presence of these predators (Hendrix, 1995). A serendipitous ser·en·dip·i·ty  
n. pl. ser·en·dip·i·ties
1. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.

2. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.

3. An instance of making such a discovery.
 backyard observation of such as interaction seems noteworthy.

The eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus) is native to much of the eastern United State (Burt & Grossenheider, 1976) and has become adapted to yards and gardens (Schwartz and Schwartz, 1959). An introduced European earthworm [Aporrectodea caliginosa (=C. furgida)] (Schwert, 1990) has also become adapted to North American North American

named after North America.


North American blastomycosis
see North American blastomycosis.

North American cattle tick
see boophilusannulatus.
 backyards (Schwert, 1990). The earthworm was identified by one of us (D.J.). We are grateful to V.C. Hubbard of the Soil Microbiology Laboratory, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri and Professors James, Maharishi ma·ha·ri·shi  
n. pl. ma·ha·ri·shis Hinduism
1. A teacher of mysticism and spiritual knowledge.

2. Used as a title for such a person.
 University, Fairfield, Iowa for verification.

Serendipitously, one of us (O.J.S.) observed a predator-prey encounter between the above two species at 1330 on the sunny, warm (24[degrees]) day of 15 May 1995 in St. Louis County, Missouri St. Louis County county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the 2000 census, the population was 1,016,315, making the county the most populous in the state of Missouri. This county is notable for its 400+ private-street associations. , U.S.A. The encounter took place in a fenced, raised vegetable garden in which the soil was covered with 2.5 cm of oak leaf mulch. As OJS OJS Organization Jointly Shared  entered the garden, he noticed that a mole was causing an upheaval of the soil and leaf litter as it moved forward 15 cm over a 2-minute period. Eleven A. caliginosa emerged in front of the displacement.

They crawled rapidly away from it over an arc of 270[degrees] and reentered the soil about 50 cm from their emergence point. None of the worms were attacked by the mole. No other earthworms were observed elsewhere on the litter surface of the garden which strongly suggests that the observed movement of the earthworms was a behavior utilized by A. caliginosa to escape predation by S. aquaticus. The intensity of the escape behavior is emphasized by the fact that the earthworms emerged under the clear sky of warm May day. One possible stimulus which initiated this escape behavior is the vibration within the upper soil and litter caused by mole's activity. Scent is another possible stimulus.

Literature Cited

Burt, W.H. and R.P. Grossenheider. 1976. A field guide to the mammals. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, MA. 289 pp.

Gorman, M.L. and R. D. Stone. 1990. The natural history of moles. Comstock Publishing Associates. Ithaca, NY 138 pp.

Hendrix, P.F. (ed.). 1995. Earthworm ecology and biogeography Biogeography

A synthetic discipline that describes the distributions of living and fossil species of plants and animals across the Earth's surface as consequences of ecological and evolutionary processes.
 in North America. Lewis Publishers. Boca Raton, FL. 244 pp.

Schwert, D.P. 1990. Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae, p. 341-356. In: D.L. Dindal (ed.). Soil Biology Gude. Wiley Interscience (John Wiley & Sons, Publisher). New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
, NY.
COPYRIGHT 1999 Missouri Academy of Science
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1999, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Author:Jordon, Diann
Publication:Transactions of the Missouri Academy of Science
Article Type:Brief Article
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Jan 1, 1999
Words:473
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