Question

Pheretima and it’s close relatives derive nutrition from?

Answer 1

Hint: Pheretima belongs to the genus of earthworms that are found mostly in New Guinea and parts of Southeast Asia. Species in this genus have a clitellum, which is a band of glandular tissue present on segment 14-16.

Complete answer-
To crack this question let’s start by doing classification of Pheretima .
Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Annelida
Class - Oligochaeta
Order. - Opisthopora
Genus. - Pheretima
Species. - postuma
We still know that to crack this answer, we should have knowledge of Pheretima . So, let’s begin-
Pheretima is a terrestrial annelid. It is a reddish-brown invertebrate that inhabits the upper layer of moist soil. During day time, they live in burrows.
They have a long cylindrical body which is divided into more than hundred short segments that are similar. Their dorsal surface is marked by a dark median mid dorsal line along the longitudinal axis of the body. The ventral surface is distinguished by the presence of genital openings.
Locomotion in them is through contraction and relaxation of their muscles, while the setae help in gripping the soil.
The food of Pheretima consists of decaying leaves, seeds, eggs and larvae of other animals and organic matter mixed in soil. Insoluble and undigested food is given out along with soil through the anus as worm casting.

So, from the above discussion we found that Pheretima and it’s close relatives obtain their food from dead decaying organic matter.

Note:
Pheretima can be traced by their faecal deposits known as worm casting.
There are about 500 species of Pheretima and 13 of them are found in India.
Pheretima are hermaphrodite i.e. both the ovaries and testes are found in the same individual.