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Invasive #jumpingworm activity is heating up in the Northeastern U.S. Forest floor leaf litter was just about gone and casting activities causing erosion on hill slopes in areas with jumping worm activity. pic.twitter.com/5K6GGpCt8C
— Cornell SAEL (@Cornell_SAEL) August 17, 2020
Invasive Amynthas worms, a.k.a. Asian jumping worms, crazy worms, snake worms, are starting to hatch in the northeast. Video courtesy of UW–Madison Arboretum of adult Amynthas writhing in leaf litter. pic.twitter.com/z26XGZXvyY
— Steve’s Outside (@featheroutdoors) April 12, 2022
Oh man.
I miss Earthworm Jim.
What happened to video games? Console side-scrollers used to be so hard. All these games now are like games for babies.
An invasive worm species known for its “voracious appetite” and ability to jump a foot in the air is raising alarm in California, where scientists have expressed concerns about the threat the worms pose to forest ecosystems.
The Amynthas agrestis, also known as the Asian jumping worm, Alabama jumper or crazy snake worm, have been spotted in California in recent months. The earthworm is native to east Asia, particularly to Japan and the Korean peninsula. However, in recent years the worms made their way to North America via various landscape plants that have been imported from the region.
Initially spotted in Wisconsin and across the New England area in 2013, the worms have spread westward into dozens of states, and were first seen in California’s Napa county in July.
The worms, which can grow up to 8in in length and have a milky white band around their dark body, are distinctive for their theatrical behavior, including wild movements and even detaching body parts. They’re also hermaphrodites and can reproduce without mating, and produce cocoons at the soil surface.
“These earthworms are extremely active, aggressive, and have voracious appetites,” California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) warned in a report. “True to their name, they jump and thrash immediately when handled, behaving more like a threatened snake than a worm, sometimes even breaking and shedding their tail when caught.”
Of greater concern, however, is the worms’ impact on the environment. Jumping worms can destroy a forest ecosystem by chewing through fallen leaves, in turn destroying the top layer of forest soil upon which many plants and organisms depend.
“They are destructive and cause severe damage to hardwood forests, especially those consisting of maple, basswood, red oak, poplar or birch species that rely on thick layers of leaf litter that serve as rooting medium,” according to the CDFA report, which notes that the “voracious feeders” can devour a cover of organic material in “two to five years”.
It’s like the old saying goes: worse things have happened to better people.
