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Information about Giant Gippsland Earthworm

Giant Gippsland earthworm
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Annelida
Class:Clitellata
Subclass:Oligochaeta
Family:Megascolecidae
Genus:Megascolides
Species:M. australis
Binomial name
Megascolides australis
McCoy, 1878
The giant Gippsland earthworm (Megascolides australis), is one of Australia's 1000 native earthworm species. These giant earthworms average at 80 cm long and 2 cm in diameter but can reach 3 meters. They have a dark purple head and a pinkish-grey body.

They live in the subsoil of blue, grey or red clay soils along stream banks and some south or west facing hills of their remaining habitat which is in Gippsland in Victoria, Australia.

These worms live in deep burrow systems and require water in their environment to respirate. These worms rarely leave their moist burrows. They have relatively long lifespans for invertebrates and can take 5 years to reach maturity. They breed in the warmer months and produce large egg cocoons which are laid in their burrows. When these worms hatch in 12 months they are already 20 cm long.

They can sometimes be heard in their habitat making gurgling sounds underground.

Threatened status

Like many of Australia’s native species, European colonisation has caused their decline and they are now a protected species.

See also

This is an endangered species.

References

External links

conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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vulnerable species is a species which is likely to become endangered unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve. The following is a very small, non-representative fraction of the 8565 species listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
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IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Annelida
Lamarck, 1809

Classes and subclasses

Class Polychaeta (paraphyletic?)
Class Clitellata*
   Oligochaeta - earthworms, etc.
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Clitellata

Subclasses

Branchiobdellae
Hirudinea
Oligochaeta

Clitellata is a class of Annelid worms, characterized by having a clitellum - the 'collar' that forms a reproductive cocoon during part of their life cycle.
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Oligochaeta

Orders

Haplotaxida
Lumbriculida
Oligochaeta (singular Oligochaete, IPA /ˈɒlɪgoʊˌkiːt/
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Megascolecidae

Genera

See text.

Megascolecidae is a large family of earthworms which has native representatives in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast and East Asia, and North America.
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binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system.
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Anthem
Advance Australia Fair [1]


Capital Canberra

Largest city Sydney
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Lumbricina

Families

  Acanthodrilidae
  Ailoscolecidae
  Alluroididae
  Almidae
  Criodrilidae
  Eudrilidae
  Exxidae
  Glossoscolecidae
  Lumbricidae
  Lutodrilidae
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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Lumbricina

Families

  Acanthodrilidae
  Ailoscolecidae
  Alluroididae
  Almidae
  Criodrilidae
  Eudrilidae
  Exxidae
  Glossoscolecidae
  Lumbricidae
  Lutodrilidae
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1 centimetre =
SI units
010−3 m 0 mm
US customary / Imperial units
010−3 ft 0 in
A centimetre (American spelling: centimeter, symbol cm
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diameter (Greek words diairo = divide and metro = measure) of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle. The diameters are the longest chords of the circle.
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1 metre =
SI units
1000 mm 0 cm
US customary / Imperial units
0 ft 0 in
The metre or meter[1](symbol: m) is the fundamental unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).
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For the album by Biosphere, see Substrata (album)

Subsoil is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. The subsoil may include substances such as clay and has only been partially broken down by air, sunlight, water, etc., to produce true soil.
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Clay is a naturally occurring material, composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried or fired.
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Habitat (which is Latin for "it inhabits") is the area where a particular species lives. It is essentially the natural environment in which an organism lives—at least the physical environment—that surrounds (influences and is utilized by) a species population.
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Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south.
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Victoria

Flag Coat of Arms
Slogan or Nickname: "Garden State", "The Place to Be"
Motto(s): "Peace and Prosperity"

Other Australian states and territories
Capital Melbourne
Government Constitutional monarchy
Governor David de Kretser
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A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite
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In animal physiology, respiration is the transport of oxygen from the ambient air to the tissue cells and the transport of carbon dioxide in the opposite direction. This is in contrast to the biochemical definition of respiration, which refers to cellular respiration
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Lifespan refers to the typical length of time that any particular organism can be expected to live. It may also refer to:
  • Life expectancy, the average lifespan expected of a group
  • Maximum life span, the maximum lifespan observed in a group

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Invertebrate is an English word that describes any animal without a spinal column. The group includes 97% of all animal species — all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum Vertebrata (fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals).
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In most birds and reptiles, an egg (Latin ovum) is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo.
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The history of Australia began when people first migrated to the Australian continent from the north, at least 40,000-45,000 years ago. The written history of Australia began when Dutch explorers first sighted the country in the 17th century.
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endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in number, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters.
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Herod_Archelaus


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