A question was raised on social media about different species of worms and their suitability when it comes to composting.

This is a great question, especially when it comes to maintaining worms in a contained environment and here was my response…

“You are correct by saying they’re all earth worms.

They are usually classed as epigeic, endogeic and anecic depending upon the species and where they tend to hang out within the soil.

Epigeic – Surface dwelling species live at the surface in freshly decaying matter / animal residue. This is also why they’re often referred to as ‘manure worms’.

Endogeic – Reside within the soil and ingest soil to extract nutrition from degraded organic matter.

Anecic – Burrow vertically deep within the soil but come up to the surface at night to forage for decaying matter.

Worm species associated within the epigeic family are most commonly used for contained home worm farms as they’ve been found to be the most suitable as per the descriptions above.

Many people also think that ‘Red Wrigglers’ are an actual species of worm. However, it’s just a generic name to mostly encompass the species Eisenia Fetida and Eisenia Fetida Andrei.

Hope that helps.

Chris 🙂👍