Giant worms invade France

Giant hammerhead worms which eat ordinary earthworms have invaded France.

The worms, which can reach up to 40cm, have wormed their way into French gardens over 20 years from Asia but this went unnoticed until five years ago, when an amateur naturalist sent a photo to scientists.

“Findings strongly suggest the species present in Metropolitan France and overseas territories should be considered invasive alien species,” according to new research published in the scientific journal PeerJ... “As scientists, we were amazed these long and [in some cases] brightly-coloured worms could escape the attention of scientists and authorities for such a long time.”

There have been 111 recorded sightings since 1999, the study noted, and there are five different species. They are able to reproduce asexually and have no known predators.

It is believed they were transported from Asia among consignments of tropical plants.