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Worm

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For other uses, see Worm (disambiguation).
An Earthworm.
Seaworm, Spaghetti Worm, Loimia medusa in Kona, Hawaii.

The term worm (vermes) refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body and no legs.

Most animals called "worms" are invertebrates, but the term is also used for the amphibian caecilians and the slow worm Anguis, a legless burrowing lizard. Invertebrate animals commonly called "worms" include annelids (earthworms), nematodes (roundworms), flatworms, marine polychaete worms (bristle worms), marine nemertean worms ("bootlace worms"), marine Chaetognatha (arrow worms) and insect larvae such as caterpillars, grubs, and maggots.

Worms vary in size from microscopic to over a metre in length for marine polychaete worms (bristle worms)[1], 6.7 m (22 ft) for the African giant earthworm, Microchaetus[2], and 55 m (180 ft) for the marine nemertean worm (bootlace worm), Lineus longissimus[3].

Historical English-speaking cultures have used the (now deprecated) terms worm, Wurm, or wyrm to describe carnivorous reptiles ("serpents"), and the related mythical beasts dragons.

Various types of worm occupy a small variety of parasitic niches, living inside the bodies of other animals. Free-living worm species may live on land, in marine or freshwater environments, or burrow.

Distribution and habitat

Worms live in almost all parts of the world including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. Some worms living in the ground help to condition the soil (e.g., annelids, aschelminths). Many thrive as parasites of plants (e.g., aschelminths) and animals, including humans (e.g., platyhelminths, aschelminths). Several other worms may be free-living, or nonparasitic. There are worms that live in freshwater, seawater, and even on the seashore. Ecologically, worms form an important link in the food chains in virtually all the ecosystems of the world.

Classification

In everyday language, the term worm is also applied to various other living forms such as larvae, insects, centipedes, shipworms (teredo worms), or even some vertebrates (creatures with a backbone) such as blindworms and caecilians. Worms can be divided into several groups, but are still technically decomposers.

  • The first of these, Platyhelminthes, includes the flatworms, tapeworms, and flukes. They have a flat, ribbon- or leaf-shaped body with a pair of eyes at the front. Some are parasites.
  • The second group contains the threadworms, roundworms, and hookworms. This phylum is called Nematoda. Threadworms may be microscopic, such as the vinegar eelworm, or more than 1 metre (3 feet) long. They are found in damp earth, moss, decaying substances, fresh water, or salt water. Some roundworms are also parasites. The Guinea worm, for example, gets under the skin of the feet and legs of people living in tropical countries.
  • The third group consists of the segmented worms, with bodies divided into segments, or rings. This phylum is called Annelida. Among these are the earthworms and the bristle worms of the sea.

In earlier taxonomic classification, all the above were included in the now obsolete group Vermes.

There are hundreds of thousands of species that live in a wide variety of habitats other than soil. Over time this broad definition narrowed to the modern definition, although this still includes several different animal groups. Phyla that include worms include:

Earthworm

To most people the most familiar worms [citation needed] are the earthworms, members of phylum Annelida. Earthworms in general have been around for 120 million years, and are theorized[who?][citation needed] to have evolved during the time of the dinosaurs. They enrich and aerate the soil; Charles Darwin found that worms turn over the top six inches (15 cm) of topsoil every 20 years in a field near where he lived. In less favourable conditions, such as waterlogged soils or hard soil deficient in suitable organic matter, or in seasonally dry soils, they cannot achieve anything like that. They lack a brain in the sense of the vertebrate brain, but have nerve centers (called ganglia); they also lack eyes but can sense light with photoreceptors. Worms are hermaphrodites (both sexes in one animal) but can cross fertilize.

Other invertebrate groups may be called worms, especially colloquially. In particular, many unrelated insect larvae are called "worms", such as the railroad worm, woodworm, glowworm, bloodworm, inchworm, mealworm, silkworm, Wooly bear worm.

Worms may also be called helminths, particularly in medical terminology when referring to parasitic worms, especially the Nematoda (roundworms) and Cestoda (tapeworms). Hence "helminthology" is the study of parasitic worms. When an animal, such as a dog, is said to "have worms", it means that it is infested with parasitic worms, typically roundworms or tapeworms.

"Ringworm" is not a worm at all, but a skin fungus.

Characteristics

Paragordius tricuspidatus (Nematomorpha)

Worms usually have a cylindrical, flattened, or leaf-like body shape and are often without any true limbs or appendages. Instead, they may have bristles or fins that help them move. A few have light-sensing organs. Worms vary in size from less than 1 mm (0.04 inch) in certain aschelminths to more than 30 m (100 feet) in certain ribbon worms.

Some worms reproduce sexually. Hermaphroditism, the condition in which a single individual possesses both male and female reproductive parts, is common in many groups of worms. Asexual reproduction, whereby new individuals develop from the body cells of another, also occurs in some worms.

Worm species differ in their abilities to move about on their own. Many species have bodies with no major muscles, and cannot move on their own—they must be moved by forces or other animals in their environment. Many other species have bodies with major muscles and can move on their own; they are a type of muscular hydrostat. Many species of worms are decomposers; they break down dead plants and animals to return nutrients to the soil. They have also been known to infiltrate households feeding on food in the early stages of its decomposition namely breads and cheeses.

Earthworms split into three different categories. The first are the surface dwellers, the Epigeic worms. Then there are the upper soil worms, the Endogeic worms. Finally,there are the deep burrowing species, the Anecic.

Image in mythology, literature, and art

Worms are sometimes used as a metaphor of putrefaction or corruption; a corpse may be said to be "fed to the worms".

The word "worm" and its cognates "wyrm" and "ormr" were used for dragons in medieval European languages, and by extension for Satan, Hell, or death.[citation needed]

Egyptian empress Cleopatra reportedly made it a crime to kill worms in Egypt in 50 BCE due to their contribution to agriculture.[citation needed]

Examples:

See also

References

  1. ^ Superstar Worm. "Cornwall - Nature - Superstar Worm". BBC. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
  2. ^ Worm Digest - The Mighty Worm
  3. ^ Carwardine, M. 1995. The Guinness Book of Animal Records. Guinness Publishing. p. 232.
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