The word "earthworm" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to refer to any species of the annelid worm of the clitellate group. For example, "The farmer discovered earthworms in the soil, which are often used as fishing bait."
Earthworm, also called angleworm, any one of more than 1,800 species of terrestrial worms of the class Oligochaeta (phylum Annelida)—in particular, members of the genus Lumbricus.
Aquatic oligochaete species are widespread in suitable environments; terrestrial forms are less widely distributed, except for the earthworm and others that have been transported to new habitats, generally inadvertently, by humans.
One of the most detailed studies of earthworm activities was conducted by English naturalist Charles Darwin.
It has been estimated that an earthworm ingests and discards its own weight in food and soil every day.
About 3,500 living species are known, the most familiar of which is the earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris.
The clitellum of the earthworm secretes a case, or cocoon, into which is secreted a material that serves as nourishment for the young and a mucous substance that aids in copulation.
Reversal of anterior posterior polarity has been obtained in an earthworm (Perionyx excavatus).
U.S. author and illustrator who, captured the imagination of preschoolers with his oversized, highly detailed picture books, which featured a whimsical menagerie of characters, including such favourites as Huckle Cat, Sergeant Murphy, Mayor Fox, Farmer Goat, and especially Lowly Worm, a Tyrolean-hatted earthworm who slithered into numerous story lines.
It is thin in annelid worms (e.g., the earthworm) and thicker in roundworms (nematodes) and arthropods.
The worms separate and form cocoons; the cocoon moves forward, picking up eggs at the 14th segment; at the 9th and 10th segments it picks up the sperm deposited by the other earthworm.
