SJP realised that the worm within the topsoil of the allotment was not the same old earthworm. It was although a distinct form of worm, one which had us making an attempt to recollect all we may about platyhelminths, a phylum which final impinged upon our cerebral cortices 60 years in the past. It’s a New Zealand Flatworm, now named Arthurdendyus triangulatus, an invasive species that first appeared in Britain within the early Nineteen Sixties, most likely within the soil of imported crops. It has unfold all through the nation and appears nicely suited to the damp (moist, to be sincere) soil of Ayrshire. I’m instructed it’s significantly prevalent on some allotments due to a communal composting scheme that was in operation previously.
It was put into the class ‘invasive’ due to the harm it will probably do to earthworm numbers and due to this fact soil high quality and fertility. It apparently feeds virtually completely on earthworms that are killed and digested outdoors the physique. The flatworm wraps itself across the earthworm, extrudes its pharynx which produces digestive enzymes, after which ingests the resultant slurry (paté?) of earthworm. Earthworm populations could also be lowered by 20%. In addition to in soil it lives in damp laces above floor, across the bases of crops, below pots, stones, logs and many others. In spring they lay egg capsules in regards to the dimension of a blackcurrant. Every holds 5-8 younger which hatch after two months.
It’s forbidden below the Wildlife and Countryside Act(s) to distribute New Zealand Flatworms which implies that any discovered must be killed and never launched alive.
This species was first described by Arthur Dendy (see right here and right here) as Geoplana triangulata in 1896. The eponymous genus Arthurdendyus was erected by Hugh D. Jones in 1999.
The mucus is alleged to be a pores and skin irritant. Nonetheless SJP survived unscathed from wrangling this most undesirable alien.