The toxicological risk assessment of chemicals is largely based on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines. These internationally approved methodologies help shape policy and political strategy of environment and human health issues. Risk assessments which pertain to soil biota ‘recruit’ sentinel organisms, including the earthworm Eisenia fetida. Despite E. fetida being morphologically similar to Dendrobaena veneta, they are characterized by a several-fold difference in sensitivity to xenobiotics. Worms, sold as either as pure E. fetida stocks or E. fetida/D. veneta mixed cultures, were obtained from five commercial suppliers. The species identity of 25 earthworms was determined by sequencing the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 2 (COII). We revealed that only one of 25 worms was E. fetida, the remaining worms were all identified as D. veneta. This underlines the notion that E. fetida and D. veneta are easily mis-identified. The occurrence of cryptic speciation combined with the well-documented species-specific variation in toxicological responses highlights the pressing need to accurately classify earthworms to species level prior to any toxicological research. Only this will ensure the validity and reliability of risk assessments.

化学品的毒理学风险评估主要基于经济合作与发展组织（OECD）指南。这些国际认可的方法有助于制定有关环境与人类健康问题的政策和政治策略。与土壤生物“招募”前哨生物有关的风险评估，包括worm Eisenia fetida。尽管f。fetida在形态上与金蝇Dendrobaena veneta相似，但它们的特征是对异源生物的敏感性有几倍的差异。蠕虫，如既可以作为纯出售赤子爱胜蚓股票或赤子爱胜蚓/ D.威尼塔从五家商业供应商处获得混合文化。通过对细胞色素C氧化酶亚基2（COII）进行测序来确定25种earth的物种同一性。我们发现25种蠕虫中只有一种是fetida e。，其余的蠕虫都被鉴定为D. veneta。这突出了这样的观念，即容易误认为埃特菲达和韦内塔。隐匿物种的形成与毒理学反应中充分记录的物种特异性变异相结合，凸显了迫切需要在进行任何毒理学研究之前将accurately准确地分类到物种水平。只有这样才能确保风险评估的有效性和可靠性。