Vermivores

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Organisms that primarily feed on worms and other similar small invertebrates
2. Animals that have a diet consisting chiefly of vermiform creatures, particularly annelids
3. Species that are adapted to consuming worm-like organisms as their main food source

Etymology: "Vermivore" is a technical coinage built from two Latin parts: "vermis," meaning worm, and the combining form "-vorus," meaning devouring, from "vorare," to swallow or devour. The same pattern produces familiar English words such as "carnivore" (flesh-eater) and "herbivore" (plant-eater), so "vermivore" simply follows that established model of naming diets by what an animal eats. The word belongs to the scientific vocabulary that naturalists built from Latin and Greek roots, a practice that expanded greatly in the 18th and 19th centuries as biology sorted animals into functional groups. Because the term is a descriptive label rather than an ancient word, its use depends on who is classifying the animals, and it is applied to a wide range of creatures, from birds that probe soil for earthworms to predators that hunt grubs and other small invertebrates.

Synonyms: worm-eaters, insectivores