Vermivore

Pacific brown salamander eating a worm

Vermivore (from Latin vermi, meaning "worm" and vorare, "to devour") in zoology describes animals that eat worms (including annelids, nematodes, and other worm-like animals).[1] Animals with such a diet are known as vermivorous.[2] Some definitions are less exclusive with respect to the diet, but limit the definition to particular animals, e.g. "Feeding on worms or insect vermin. Used of a bird."[3]

An entire genus of New World warblers has been given the name Vermivora.

One vermivore that may feed exclusively on worms is Paucidentomys vermidax, a rodent species of a type commonly known as shrew rats which was discovered in 2011 in Indonesia. The name, which can be translated as "worm-eating, few-toothed mouse", refers to the fact that they have only two teeth and may live exclusively on a diet of earthworms.[4]

Examples

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Animal Diversity Web". Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Vermivorous". The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. 3. 1766.
  3. ↑ "The Free Dictionary". Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  4. ↑ Esselstyn, J.A., Achmadi, A.S. Rowe, K.C. (2012). Evolutionary novelty in a rat with no molars. Biology Letters, published online 22 August 2012, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2012.0574
  5. ↑ (subscription required)%5b%5bCategory:Pages containing links to subscription-only content%5d%5d "Spiny Anteaters: Licking Up Its Food" Check value (help). International Wildlife Encyclopedia. 18. Marshall Cavendish. 2002. p. 2488.
  6. ↑ Chapman, James (March 4, 2003). (subscription required)%5b%5bCategory:Pages containing links to subscription-only content%5d%5d "Moles on the March; Mild Winters and Poison Shortage Put Lawns at Risk" Check |url= value (help). Daily Mail. p. 17.



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