Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Jumping worms, also known as snake worms
It sounds like a rock group from the past but it's no joke. Jumping worms are an invasive Asian species and a friend of mine has found them in her beautiful, carefully tended for decades garden.
Evidently they've been around for over a century, now they're spreading to forested areas where they are altering the ecosystem.
These worms feed on the upper layers of forest litter and they are insatiable. They out compete native earthworms and leave the soil depleted, to the disadvantage of native growth.
As if the current regime weren't bad enough--these guys could be their mascots.
A good article on these critters is HERE.
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