Earthworms of India
  • The earthworm fauna of India is well reported as compared to other Asian Countries. Presently, 452 valid species / subspecies of earthworms under 71 genera are known from the Indian territory, including the islands of Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep.

Sl No. Family Genus (No) Species (No)
1 Acanthodrilidae 26 123
2 Almidae 02 07
3 Benhamiidae 01 06
4 Eudrilidae 01 01
5 Lumbricidae 08 17
6 Megascolecidae 19 191
7 Moniligastridae 03 89
8 Ocnerodrilidae 10 17
9 Rhinodrilidae 01 01
Total Families: 09 71 452
  • The scientific exploration of earthworm’s diversity in India dates back to the nineteenth century.
  • The credit for naming the first earthworm species in the Indian subcontinent goes to Templeton (1844) when he discovered Megascolex coeruleus from Sri Lanka.
  • Subsequent noteworthy contributions on the taxonomy of Indian earthworm are those of Bourne (1886), Beddard (1902), Michaelsen (1907, 1910), Stephenson (1914, 1915, 1917, 1923), Aiyer (1929), Gates (1937, 1938, 1938, 1939, 1939, 1942, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1972), Jamieson (1977), Julka (1976, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1988, 1988), Senapati et al. (1990) and Julka and Paliwal (1993, 1994). Paliwal and Julka (2005), Verma and Yadav (2010), Yadav (2011, 2016), Vishwakarma and Yadav (2017), Narayanan et al. (2016, 2020, 2023), Tiwari et al. (2020), Miglani et al. (2022) have provided comprehensive checklists for earthworms of different regions of India.
  • Several new taxa are being discovered, mostly from the Northeast Regions and Western Ghats, adding to the list by Julka et al. (2004), Narayanan et al. (2017, 2021, 2022), Lone et al. (2020, 2022), Tiwari et al. (2021), Ahmad et al. (2022, 2023).
  • Endemism, both at genera and species level, is very high; about 71% of genera and 89% of species are endemic. It is estimated that as many as 57 exotic species have been brought to India and mostly belongs to union-territory from other Zoogeographical realms.
  • The earthworm fauna of India is well reported as compared to other Asian Countries. The most diverse families of earthworm species in India Megascolecidae comprise 191 species of 19 genera; Acanthodrilidae with 123 species of 26 genera and Moniligastridae with 89 species (all native) of 3 genera. Especially diverse earthworm genera of India belongs to Moniligastridae Drawida (74 species) and Moniligaster (14 species); the Megascolecidae Perionyx (51 species), Megascolex (32 species) and Argilophilus (23 species) the Acanthodrilidae Eutyphoeus (27 species), Haplochaetella (19 species) and Octochaetona (15 species).
Family Genus Number of Valid Species
Acanthodrilidae Bahlia One
Acanthodrilidae Calebiella One
Acanthodrilidae Chaetocoides One
Acanthodrilidae Eudichogaster Six
Acanthodrilidae Eutyphoeus Twenty Seven
Acanthodrilidae Herbettodrilus One
Acanthodrilidae Haplochaetella Nineteen
Acanthodrilidae Karmiella Two
Acanthodrilidae Konkadrilus Six
Acanthodrilidae Kotegeharia One
Acanthodrilidae Lennogaster Seven
Acanthodrilidae Mallehulla One
Acanthodrilidae Microscolex One
Acanthodrilidae Octochaetoides One
Acanthodrilidae Octochaetona Fifteen
Acanthodrilidae Octonochaeta One
Acanthodrilidae Pellogaster Three
Acanthodrilidae Pridochaeta One
Acanthodrilidae Pridoscolex One
Acanthodrilidae Ramiella Five
Acanthodrilidae Rillogaster Two
Acanthodrilidae Scolioscolides One
Acanthodrilidae Senapatiella Three
Acanthodrilidae Shimodrilus Two
Acanthodrilidae Travoscolides Four
Acanthodrilidae Wahascolex Ten
Total One Hundred Twenty Three
Almidae Glyphidrilus Six
Almidae Progizzardus One
Total Seven
Benhamiidae Dichogaster Six
Total Six
Eudrilidae Eudrilus One
Total One
Lumbricidae Allolobophora One
Lumbricidae Aporrectodea Three
Lumbricidae Bimastos Three
Lumbricidae Dendrobaena Two
Lumbricidae Eisenia Two
Lumbricidae Eiseniella One
Lumbricidae Lumbricus Three
Lumbricidae Octolasion Two
Total Seventeen
Megascolecidae Amynthas Nineteen
Megascolecidae Argilophilus Twenty Three
Megascolecidae Barogaster Three
Megascolecidae Celeriella Seven
Megascolecidae Comarodrilus One
Megascolecidae Dashiella One
Megascolecidae Kanchuria Eight
Megascolecidae Lampito Eight
Megascolecidae Megascolex Thirty Two
Megascolecidae Metaphire Eleven
Megascolecidae Nelloscolex Two
Megascolecidae Notoscolex Ten
Megascolecidae Perionyx Fifty One
Megascolecidae Pheretima Two
Megascolecidae Pithemera One
Megascolecidae Polypheretima Two
Megascolecidae Pontodrilus One
Megascolecidae Tonoscolex Eight
Megascolecidae Troyia One
Total One Hundred Ninety One
Moniligastridae Desmogaster One
Moniligastridae Drawida Seventy Four
Moniligastridae Moniligaster Fourteen
Total Eighty Nine
Ocnerodrilidae Aphanascus One
Ocnerodrilidae Curgiona One
Ocnerodrilidae Deccania One
Ocnerodrilidae Eukerria One
Ocnerodrilidae Gordiodrilus One
Ocnerodrilidae Malabaria Four
Ocnerodrilidae Nematogenia One
Ocnerodrilidae Ocnerodrilus One
Ocnerodrilidae Parryodrilus One
Ocnerodrilidae Thatonia Five
Total Seventeen
Rhinodrilidae Pontoscolex One
Total One
  • High earthworm diversity in this country is primarily due to its geographical location with a wide latitudinal range (between 8.4’ N and 37.6’ N), complex topography varied climate and past geographical history (linked to ancient super continent of Gondwana land from which it spread in the last Jurassic and drifted to collide with the Asian Mainland to Eocene).
  • Giant earthworms found in India (Source: Julka, 2008).
Species/Family Length (mm) Distribution
Family Moniligastridae
Drawida grandis 520 Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu)
Drawida naduvatamensis 500 Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu)
Drawida nilamburensis 1000 Nilgiris (Malabars, Kerala)
Family Megascolecidae
Megascolex imperatrix 650 Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu)
Megascolex konkanensis 415 South India
Megascolex konkanensis longus 570 Anamalai Hills
Perionyx macintoshi 375 Eastern Himalaya
Family Acanthodrilidae
Periodochaeta pellucida 458 Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu)
Eutyphoeus gammiei 405 Eastern Himalaya & Northeast Hills