''Pheretima praepinguis'' is a huge
earthworm
An earthworm is a soil-dwelling terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. The term is the common name for the largest members of the class (or subclass, depending on the author) Oligochaeta. In classical systems, they we ...
about half meter long of genus
Pheretima.
''Pheretima praepinguis'' lives in
Emei mountain,
Sichuan Province
Sichuan is a Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capita ...
, China, and is one of the most featured organisms living in the place.
[ It is trivially called "Big Earthworm of Emei"() or "Toudilong" (, literally means "dragon which can go through the earth").]
History
In 1931, Yi Chen (), an honored Chinese biologist, researched some samples of an earthworm from Mount Emei, Sichuan Province. At that time, he suggested that it should be classified as ''Pheretima tschiliensis''. However, G. E. Gates
Gordon Enoch Gates (11 January 1897 – 11 June 1987) was an American zoology, zoologist. He is known for his Taxonomy, taxonomic work on the Oligochaeta and for being a "world authority" on the subject. He published in his field for nearly 60 yea ...
found out that such earthworm is different with ''Pheretima tschiliensis''. They can be distinguished by the location of the primary spermathecal pores in parietal invaginations. He then named this earthworm after ''Pheretima praepinguis'' in 1935. Although Yi Chen insisted that ''Pheretima praepinguis'' is a synonym of ''Pheretima tschiliensis'' in an article published in 1936, this name is ubiquitously accepted nowadays.
See also
* Pheretima
*'' Pheretima tschiliensis''
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q33495162
Megascolecidae