January 2, 2024 at 7:35 am Update: 2 hours ago
So-called tropical earthworms were found in greenhouses in Amsterdam and Amersfoort. The animals have arrived in our country through the pot plant trade and growers are far from happy about it.
This is the milky white landnemertine. These carnivores have a smooth body and move along their own slime trail, writes the EIS Insect Knowledge Center. Nature today.
You can find them in damp places in greenhouses or gardens. An important feature of terrestrial worms is the proboscis on the front of the body. They can shoot them to capture prey or to rise quickly.
Worms eat earthworms in the soil. This is not good news for soil quality. Earthworms are real waste transformers. They eat dead plant remains and excrete them as plant nutrients. Large numbers of earthworms therefore pose a threat to soil fertility.
More and more exotic worms are appearing in our country. Most nematodes are aquatic animals. In the Netherlands, 29 species are known to live in the sea and two in freshwater.
Worldwide, only fifteen species of nematodes are known to live on land. These are all tropical worms, three of which have spread around the world through the pot plant trade. The first species was found in our country in 2022.
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Image: Roy Kleukers / Nature today
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AnimalsNatural wormsDomestic
2024-01-02 06:35:53
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