Morphological characteristics are not so reliably used to differentiate different species of earthworms.I The universality of low molecular weight metabolites allows rapid and straightforward investigation of the biochemistry of genetically uncharacterised species. Thus ex vivo metabolic profiling in combination with multivariate data analysis (metabonomics) offers great potential in comparative biology. Here we present the first use of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to distinguish closely related animal species via their metabolic phenotype (metabotype). We have profiled the three Eisenia(Oligochaeta, Lumbricidae) species Eisenia fetida, Eisenia andrei and Eisenia veneta using tissue extracts and coelomic fluid analysis. The low molecular weight biochemical profiles of tissue extracts were highly conserved for all three species, with E. fetida and E. andrei being more similar to each other.PDF enclosed

In older literature the name “fetida” is erroneously spelled “foetida” (Bouché, 1972). Domínguez et al. (2005) confirmed that E. fetida and E. andrei are reproductively isolated because no viable offspring was produced when crossed. E. fetida is characterized by prominent yellow transverse segmental stripes, while E. andrei is uniformly dark reddish. However, this difference is often not sufficient to identify these worms correctly, partly because after fixation the characteristic yellow stripes of E. fetida disappear (Bundy et al., 2002) and therefore the reliability of ecotoxicological test results can be questioned. This problem was ignored for quite some time, mainly because only few taxonomy experts for this group are available. Therefore, DNA barcoding (Hebert et al., 2003) of these earthworms was proposed as a quick and simple method to identify species (e.g., Voua Otomo et al., 2009, 2013a,b). Please have a look at enclosed PDF...

Morphological characteristics are not so reliably used to differentiate different species of earthworms.I The universality of low molecular weight metabolites allows rapid and straightforward investigation of the biochemistry of genetically uncharacterised species. Thus ex vivo metabolic profiling in combination with multivariate data analysis (metabonomics) offers great potential in comparative biology. Here we present the first use of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to distinguish closely related animal species via their metabolic phenotype (metabotype). We have profiled the three Eisenia(Oligochaeta, Lumbricidae) species Eisenia fetida, Eisenia andrei and Eisenia veneta using tissue extracts and coelomic fluid analysis. The low molecular weight biochemical profiles of tissue extracts were highly conserved for all three species, with E. fetida and E. andrei being more similar to each other.PDF enclosed

In older literature the name “fetida” is erroneously spelled “foetida” (Bouché, 1972). Domínguez et al. (2005) confirmed that E. fetida and E. andrei are reproductively isolated because no viable offspring was produced when crossed. E. fetida is characterized by prominent yellow transverse segmental stripes, while E. andrei is uniformly dark reddish. However, this difference is often not sufficient to identify these worms correctly, partly because after fixation the characteristic yellow stripes of E. fetida disappear (Bundy et al., 2002) and therefore the reliability of ecotoxicological test results can be questioned. This problem was ignored for quite some time, mainly because only few taxonomy experts for this group are available. Therefore, DNA barcoding (Hebert et al., 2003) of these earthworms was proposed as a quick and simple method to identify species (e.g., Voua Otomo et al., 2009, 2013a,b). Please have a look at enclosed PDF...

At the moment there is no morphological differences. Previously it was thought that E. fetida is a stripy worm and E. andrei is uniformly coloured (red) this is why its first (but unavailable) name was E. unicolor.

Recently, investigating Iranian samples we have shown, that all the material (both striped and with uniform colour) belong molecularly to the E. andrei clade. So the only way is barcoding which is quite consistent showing two highly divergent Mt. clades.

To Anoop: It is not surprising that veneta differs from fetida/andrei; it belongs to a different genus Dendrobaena for a long time but erroneously time to time appears under the name E. veneta in the literature.

Morphologically Eisenia fetida and Eisenia andrei looks almost similar except the color you have mentioned but Eisenia andrei produced higher number of hatching's per cocoon than Eisenia fetida. Moreover, they differ markedly in their biochemical profile so metabolic phenotype profiling by NMR can be used as a powerful functional genomic tool.

You can take a look to this paper (in spanish) summarizing work done in our lab:

 Jorge Domínguez y Marcos Pérez-Losada (2010) Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826) y Eisenia andrei Bouché, 1972 son dos especies diferentes de lombrices de tierra. Acta Zoológica Mexicana 2, 321-331. You can find the pdf in my RG page.

We have both in my lab and we can distinguishing them based on their color pattern. When we conducted the Rombke et al. (2016) DNA barcoding...in my lab we classified all samples based on the color and the results coincided 100% with the data revealed by the barcoding study.

Thanks for these interesting comments. Then according criteria of experts, what species is present in the enclosed image? Eisenia hortensis?

Really this net is excellent.

Many regards

Daniel

¿Eisenia andrei?

On the first pics it is surely not Dendrobaena hortensis (It is not Eisenia just in the old literature but used erroneously sometimes in the recent ones as well) it is rather D. veneta, but a close-up on the tubercles would help. However for an an exact identification a picture is not enough. Some key morphological characters like setal distance, clitellum and tubercles' positions spermathecal openings are needed.

Okay. Thank you very much. I think it is Dendrobaena veneta. It is extensively sold in fishing shops in SW Spain. The problem is that I buy different species is different shops of gardening and fishing and I am not completely sure about taxonomy. These shops use very confusing common names. At the momment I had seen Lumbricus terrestris, Eisenia andrei, Eisenia fetida and Dendrobaena veneta. I want to acquire these different species so that my students see them and I must be sure about classification. Thank you so much everyone. Regards.

Finally I have Lumbricus terrestris, Eisenia fetida y Dendrobaena in my lab with good performance... Thanks a lot.