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Introduction to the Annelida



http://ucmp1.berkeley.edu/annelida/annelida.html
Title: Introduction to the Annelida

Introduction to the Annelida

Everybody's favorite, worms. . .

Segmented worms make up the Phylum Annelida. The phylum includes earthworms and their relatives, leeches, and a large number of mostly marine worms known as polychaetes. Various species of polychaete are known as lugworms, clam worms, bristleworms, fire worms, sea mice, and "EWWW! I stepped on that THING!"

Annelids can be told by their segmented bodies. Polychaetes (meaning "many bristles") have, predictably, many bristles on the body, while earthworms and leeches have fewer bristles. There are about 9000 species of annelid known today.


Click on the buttons below to learn more about the Annelida.


Serious annelid connoisseurs should not miss Chaetozone, a newsletter dedicated to polychaete annelids and distributed electronically through the Biodiversity and Biological Collections Web Server at Cornell University. Those interested in vermiculture might prefer The Burrow, a remarkably designed Website with abundant information on earthworm farming. And not to forget the third main class of annelids, Mark Siddal's Hirudinea pages present original work on the evolution of leeches.