Abstract
Earthworms were collected from a primary forest and a four-year-old pasture near Panguana Biological
Station (Dpto. Huánuco, Peru). The sites are located in the preandine zone of the Peruvian rain forest, where
the forest is being increasingly replaced by pasture. It can be expected that the soil fauna changes accordingly.
This is shown by the earthworm community. In the litter layer of the primary forest, mainly epigeic species
of Glossoscolecidae of Neotropical distribution were found. In the pasture in contrast, the peregrine
glossoscolecid, Pontoscolex corethrurus, is dominant, a species that inhabits the mineral layer of the soil. The
total abundance of worms decreased in the pasture to about one half of that in the forest. These results are
compared with data available from other rain forest, savanna and pasture sites.
