The earthworms (lumbricidae and sparganophilidae) of Ontario

Abstract

I would not enter on tin list of friends, (Tho' grae'd with polish'd manners and tine sense Yet wanting sensihilit\) the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm". Wilham Cowper, The Task (1784) Nobody could needlessly set foot upon one of the giant earthworms of Australia or Brazil, large specimens of which may attain lengths of 1 1 feet and weigh up to 1 pound. But to many people earthworms are lowly insignificant creatures whose main utility is to act as bait for catching larger and more edible animals. The Canadian earthworms are indeed represented only by the smaller, more modest, forms and even though to the uninitiated they all seem to be the same there are in fact several species which are not too difficult to distinguish. In this book Dr. Reynolds has assembled, for the first time, all pertinent data, both systematic and biological, on the Canadian earthworm fauna, and with the aid of a key, and the fine illustrations of Dr. Dan Dindal, any naturalist or fisherman should be able to name accurately the specimens that he has at hand. Earthworms are a significant component of the soil fauna and their beneficial effects on the agricultural properties of soils have been documented since the time of Darwin. Some idea of the extent of their activity can be obtained by reflecting on the fact that something apparently so permanent as the monument of Stonehenge is being buried at the rate of about seven inches per century as a result of the burrowing activities of earthworms. Because of their effects on the soil there can be little doubt that a proper understanding of these creatures is greatly to man's benefit but, as Dr. Reynolds points out, very little is known of their biology in North America. This book should form a valuable basis for further study of these important aspects. Dr. Faustus, in part I of Goethe's Faust, speaks disparagingly of him who "finds his happiness unearthing worms". And an old Chinese aphorism warns "watch the earthworm; miss the eclipse". But anybody who has spent time investigating and observing the smaller and lesser known animals of this planet knows that there is much intellectual satisfaction to be gained from such efforts. The great Victorian naturalist, Thomas Henry Huxley, likened the uninformed naturalist to a person walking through an art gallery in which nine-tenths of the pictures have their faces to the walls. With the aid of this book a few more pictures are now on view. The Royal Ontario Museum is fortunate to have persuaded Drs. Reynolds and Dindal to collaborate in producing this book, and zoologists, farmers, fishermen, naturalists, and teachers throughout northern North America should have cause to appreciate their labours.

Earthworms and agricultural systems: Status of knowledge and research in Canada

“…Canada, geographically nearly completely within the Pleistocene glacial maxima, is somewhat impoverished of native North American earthworm species in most of its soils. The notable exceptions are the following: Sparganophilus eiseni Smith, 1895, in the bottom muds and banks of the Great Lakes and some tributaries (Reynolds 1977), and now confirmed for three localities on the lower St John River, New Brunswick (McAlpine et al 2001); Bimastos parvus Eisen, 1874, a native Nearctic anthropochore now identified from several Canadian locations from Ontario to the Maritime provinces (Reynolds 1972(Reynolds , 1977; Bimastos lawrenceae Fender, new species (n.sp.) from Vancouver Island (McKey-Fender et al 1994 (McKey-Fender and Fender 1982;Spiers et al 1984;Spiers et al 1986;McKey-Fender et al 1994).…”

“…There have since been extensions of some of these Ontario species' ranges to additional counties Reynolds 1992a, Reynolds andMayville 1994 (Reynolds 1980;Reynolds and Cook 1993), and Bimastos parvus (Lumbricidae) are the only native North American species found in Ontario (Reynolds 1977), but both are anthropochores with very limited distributions in Ontario. S. eiseni has been collected from lake-bottom muds of the Great Lakes Basin.…”

“…An overview of North American earthworm distributions with included species maps is provided by Reynolds (1995), and in detail for the two central provinces of Ontario and Quebec (Reynolds 1977;Reynolds and Reynolds 1992b). General maps with comparisons of earthworm species distributions between forested and agricultural lands of Canada and the United States of America are provided by Reynolds (1976b).…”

“…Reynolds (2001a; includes a key to the species of New Brunswick) collected from 172 sites in New Brunswick, Ontario Reynolds (1972Reynolds ( , 1977, and Reynolds and Jordan (1975) provided an extensive description of earthworm distribution by county and district, primarily in southern Ontario, and collated scattered records from northern Ontario to arrive at an Ontario species list of 19 (Table 1). There have since been extensions of some of these Ontario species' ranges to additional counties Reynolds 1992a, Reynolds andMayville 1994 (Reynolds 1980;Reynolds and Cook 1993), and Bimastos parvus (Lumbricidae) are the only native North American species found in Ontario (Reynolds 1977), but both are anthropochores with very limited distributions in Ontario.…”

Antiplatelet Aggregation Assay of Homogenate of Eutyphoeus Gammiei- A Native Earthworm of Tripura, North-East, India

“…Around fifty adult earthworms E. gammiei were identified by digging, hand-sorting, and wet sieving method (Edwards and Lofty, 1977;Reynolds, 1977) [14][15] . They were collected with the help of a spade from Agartala, Tripura in the early morning.…”