Jan 2, 2024 at 7:35 AM Update: an hour ago
So-called tropical land cordworms have been found in greenhouses in Amsterdam and Amersfoort. The animals ended up in our country via the pot plant trade and growers are anything but happy about that.
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 land cordworms is the proboscis on the front of their body. They can shoot them out to catch prey or to pull themselves quickly.
The worms eat earthworms in the soil. That is not good news for soil quality. Earthworms are real waste processors. They eat dead plant remains and excrete them as plant nutrients. A large number of land cordworms therefore poses a threat to soil fertility.
More and more exotic worms are appearing in our country. Most cordworms are aquatic animals. In the Netherlands, 29 species are known that live in the sea and two in freshwater.
Worldwide, only fifteen species of cordworms are known to live on land. These are all tropical worms, three of which have been spread around the world through the potted 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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