Giant Predatory Worms Quietly Invaded France, And Biologists Are Shocked

Quartz ^ | 05/23/2018 | BEN GUARINO,

[BenLurkin]

Hammerhead flatworms, which grow to a foot or more in length, do not belong in European vegetable gardens.

"We do not have that in France," said Justine, a professor at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

The predatory worms are native to Asia, where they happily gobble up earthworms under a warmer sun.

The gardener who took the first photo, an amateur naturalist named Pierre Gros, emailed Justine a second picture a week later. It was of a completely different species of giant worm.

…

"The species are cryptic and soil-dwelling so can be easily overlooked, which often explains their inadvertent shipment round the world," said entomologist Archie Murchie of Britain's Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, who was not involved with the study.

Worms like these are spreading and will continue to spread, he warned, especially "with increased global trade."

Biologists knew that smaller worms, which eat escargot snails, had made their way to France. But until recently, Justine, an expert in parasites and worms called nematodes, had no idea France was under a hammerhead invasion.

[Captainpaintball]

Mooseslimes sh-t them out when they invaded Europe.

[BBell]

As long as they’re not Sandworms.

[kaehurowing]

Small graboids. They get bigger.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

.

[dirtboy]

A colleague once tried to put a flatworm in his mouth, Justine recounted. The man still describes it as "one of the worst experiences of his life."

Truly weapons-grade stupidity.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

The Ruger Single Six takes care of stuff like this.

The .22 LR cylinder loaded with #12 bird shot.

[Fungi]

Give it a little time. With the flatworm also came a few fungi to keep it in check. My guess would be an Arthrobotrys species, but there are others that this flat head will contend with.

[cork]

do they make good bait?

[TChad]

they produce small amounts of a substance called tetrodotoxin to immobilize prey.

TTX. You should not eat this worm.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I’m going to try and sneak one into Canada in August.

I’ll have to custom tie the crawler harness rig with really big gaps between hooks, though.

;-)

[lee martell]

Time for a RAID spray down!
Maybe they sell it on France.
Of course, then there would be water and soil contamination to deal with. Decisions, decisions.

[Jonty30]

That’s the first step in figuring out how to saute it and coat it with garlic butter.

[RightGeek]

Biologists knew that smaller worms, which eat escargot snails.......

Sacré bleu!

[dirtboy]

I don’t care if you coat it in top-grade beluga caviar, it’s still gonna be nasty.

[Terry Mross]

Hammerhead Flatworms invading France. Is that what they call Muslims today?

[bramps]

Small graboids. They get bigger.
...................................

They'll be okay as long as they have Swiss cheese and bullets!

[heartwood]

Fifteen years ago my garden had a super-abundance of earthworms; leaf litter disappeared very rapidly; there were several in every shovel of earth.

I have not seen one this spring in all my digging. Seven miles away where I work, there are plenty.

IIRC, North America did not have any earthworms until the Europeans brought them. Fungus broke down plant debris and still does in the more boreal forests. Minnesota was ordering fishermen not to dump their bait worms but carry out the extras.

[Osage Orange]

Democrats?

[miliantnutcase]

Im partial to the Carolina rig myself...