By reviewing the papersonpheretima in recent years

the latest research progresses on the identification of cultivars

quality control of medicine

chemical constituents

pharmacological effects and artificial breeding were summarized in this paper.According to the 2015 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia records

pheretima includes Pheretima aspergillum

P. vulgaris

P.guillelmi and P.pectinifera.The present study showed that mitochondrial COⅠ and 16S rDNA gene of pheretima were used as DNA bar code to identify the pheretimacultivars. X-ray differaction Fourier patternand 12S rRNA gene in mitochondria were used as molecular markers to identifycultivars.The identification methods needed further research. A variety of methods have been established for controlling the quality of medicine

including the HPLC fingerprint of pheretima

the characteristic map of high performance capillary electrophoresis

the enzyme activity as an index to evaluate the quality of medicine and the quality evaluation ofmedicine by the gray relational degree model.The main chemical composition of pheretimainclude protein

amino acids

enzymes

lipids

trace elements

nucleotides and others. Its main pharmacological effects includeantiasthma

antihypertensive

antipyretic

anti-inflammatory

anticoagulant

antithrombotic

anti-tumor

enhancing immunity and so on.The main active ingredients of pheretima include protein

enzyme

amino acid

trace elements and so on.In some pharmacological actions

the active ingredients andmechanism of actionare stillunclear

so further research is needed.The artificial breeding of pheretima has rarely been reported; its breeding technology has not yet been refined

and the standardized artificial breeding technology is still in its exploration stage.The research onpheretima is still insufficient

with broad prospects for research and development. This paper may provide a reference for the further research on pheretima.