I've got a bad feeling about this...we offered these flatworms (center) an earthworm (far left) to see if they are the invasive kind that eats our annelid friends. The jury is out.ETA: The jury is back. Death penalty.
I've got a bad feeling about this...we offered these flatworms (center) an earthworm (far left) to see if they are the invasive kind that eats our annelid friends. The jury is out.
3 comments:
MacBeth, We recently studied flatworms as part of our overview of the Kingdom Animalia and saw an excellent video from the Shape of Life video series. Part of the film detailed the invasion of Great Britain by predatory flatworms from NZ. They arrived in the isles in potted plants and are ruining cropland. It showed a flatworm attacking and killing an earthworm. Fascinating and chilling. I didn't know we had a similar creature here.
We have these in our garden here in TX and my husband is greatly dismayed - as a fisherman and a gardener...earthworms are to be protected! So I guess we'll try that orange oil thing that site recommended, but i don' know how well it will work if you don't know where they live to get them with the orange oil. please let us all know how your search and destroy mission goes.
Sorry to have to inform those of you here in the US, but earthworms are invasive, and there is mounting evidence that they are a threat to native forest ecosystems. Much as we appreciate the impact of earthworms in our gardens, etc., we need to recognize that they really are out of place here. Three cheers for the hammerhead flatworms!
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