You may have heard of lionfish in the Atlantic Ocean and Burmese pythons in the Everglades, but another invasive species has been under our feet for over a century. Also known as “snake worms” or “crazy worms” because of their thrashing behavior, invasive Asian jumping worms comprise a group of 16 or so species that threaten our farmlands and native forests. Here’s what the experts have to say about these harmful worms.
An Emerging Problem
“I’ve been studying the group off and on for 30 years,” says Mac A. Callaham. Callaham is a research ecologist and team leader for the U.S. Forest Service at the Southern Research Station in Athens, Georgia. “It’s something that I’ve had a keen interest in for a good long time. The sad fact of this is that these worms have been present in North America for more than 100 years now.”
Asian jumping worms were first reported in California in the 1860s, and then they started appearing on the East Coast in the late 1930s and 1940s. About 10 years ago, the Arboretum at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, identified them in the state for the first time.
“They weren’t really noticed, or they weren’t really an invasive problem until the last 15
