[1] It is trivially called "Big Earthworm of Emei"(Chinese: 峨嵋大蚯蚓) or "Toudilong" (Chinese: 透地龍, literally means "dragon which can go through the earth").

[3] In 1931, Yi Chen (Chinese: 陳義), a honored Chinese biologist, researched some samples of an earthworm from Mount Emei, Sichuan Province.

However, G. E. Gates found out that such earthworm is different with Pheretima tschiliensis.

They can be distinguished by the location of the primary spermathecal pores in parietal invaginations.

Although Yi Chen insisted that Pheretima praepinguis is a synonym of Pheretima tschiliensis in an article published in 1936,[4] this name is ubiquitously accepted nowadays.