Habitat: Species inhabiting soils rich in organic matter, and mainly found in the litter and within the first centimeters below the soil surface. Can be found in croplands, natural or planted forests, pastures and gardens. common in coniferous forests (Addison, 2009). In pastures, commonly associated with dungs.
Life history traits: Species often found in plant roots, suggesting that this species actively feeds in the rhizosphere (Hale et al., 2008). It burrows and produces casts in the upper mineral soil layer (Hale et al., 2008). Relatively frost (Tiunov et al., 2006) and low pH tolerant (pH 3.0 to 7.7) (Wironen and Moore, 2006). Sexual reproduction (Hendrix and Bohlen, 2002). As invasive species, its first impacts tend to be physical disruption of the stratified humus layers, thus preparing later settlement of alien endogeic species (James & Hendrix, 2004 in Addison, 2009).
Parasitism: The sporozoan genus Monocystis (Sporozoa, Gregarinida) has been reported to parasite L. rubellus (Purrini and Pižl, 1982).
Vermiculture: Lumbricus rubellus is an important commercial fishing bait species (Addison, 2009; Keller et al., 2007). It is also known for its capacity to breakdown the organic wastes. However, further research into its potential in vermicomposting is needed due to its relatively slow reproduction rate (Edwards & Arancon, 2004).
Research model: During the 2000s, L. rubellus became a major model among earthworms in ecotoxicology and molecular biology (Stürzenbaum et al., 1998; Morgan et al., 2004; Owen et al., 2008; Guo et al., 2009).
To complete with... GISD

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  Adult

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  Close-up on the clitellum