''Eisenia andrei'' is a close relative of the 'brandling' or 'tiger' worm ''

Eisenia fetida ''Eisenia fetida'', known under various common names such as manure worm, redworm, brandling worm, panfish worm, trout worm, tiger worm, red wiggler worm, etc., is a species of earthworm adapted to decaying organic material. These worms thrive i ...

''. Like its sibling species, it is

epigeic Epigeal, epigean, epigeic and epigeous are biological terms describing an organism's activity above the soil surface. In botany, a seed is described as showing epigeal germination when the cotyledons of the germinating seed expand, throw off th ...

, i.e. it prefers to live in compost or leaf litter rather than mineral soils. It can be distinguished from ''E. fetida'' as it is darker in colour, and the characteristic stripes are less pronounced. Although its status as a separate species was fully confirmed in the mid-1980s by molecular analyses (based on electrophoresis of

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

isoforms), ''E. andrei'' is still often misidentified and confused with '' E. fetida''. The muscles of the ''Eisenia andrei'' embryos appear in groups of at least two distinct muscles that cross the ventral midline and initially reach towards the lateral side of the embryo.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3700630 Lumbricidae Animals described in 1972