Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and usually no eyes.
Various types of worms inhabit different ecosystems on the planet. These invertebrate animals, often overlooked, exhibit diverse characteristics and behaviors. They live in deep soil, freshwater, or harsh deserts, and their diet patterns vary. Read on to learn more.
The most common intestinal parasite infection globally is ascariasis. It affects about 1 billion people worldwide. In the U.S., the most common infections are from protozoa, especially the giardia parasite. Pinworms are the most common intestinal worm in the U.S.
Worms are one of the largest groups of invasive species in the world. With over one million species, the bilateral symmetry of their elongated bodies makes them easy to identify.
A Worm is an elongated soft-bodied invertebrate animal. The best-known is the earthworm, a member of phylum Annelida, however, there are hundreds of thousands of different species that live in a wide variety of habitats other than soil.
Worm, any of various unrelated invertebrate animals that typically have soft, slender, elongated bodies. Worms usually lack appendages; polychaete annelids are a conspicuous exception.
There are approximately 2,700 different kinds of earthworms. Worms live where there is food, moisture, oxygen and a favorable temperature. If they don’t have these things, they go somewhere else. In one acre of land, there can be more than a million earthworms.
Worm Facts | The Adventures of Herman the Worm | U of I Extension