This worm was under a pot. It reminds me of those things called planaria (sp?) that we studied in high school biology - a flatworm that lives in the water. This guy has two thick side stripes and one thin middle stripe down his back. It's sitting on a leaf. Notice the flat head. It was able to get really, really long. Sorry for the rotten photo.
Yep, that's a planarian. I don't know what kind it is though.
http://davesgarden.com/bf/go/1839/
Thanks again claypa.
Ack! I hate those things!I read somewhere,they eat the good worms.
P
They do eat earthworms and they're cannabalistic....ick!
Just as long as it doesnt try to eat me!
they're just about the stickiest things I've ever had to deal with.
P
Those are really bad guys. They do eat earthworms. The really bad thing about them is that they are almost impossible to kill. Any small part of them will regenerate into a whole worm. So stomping on them doesn't work. Whenever I find them (moist or wet places - in my french drains, etc) I put them in a jar of rubbing alcohol and cross my fingers.
I wonder if salt would work, like for slugs...
I dunno, but I would hate to leave even one living cell behind.
Are they a native creature or introduced??
Introduced I believe. There was an article about them in a gardening magazine a few years ago, asking readers to tell them if they saw any. They wanted to know how far they had extended their territories. That was about the same time that I found them in my yard. I thought I had found a two-headed earthworm, but it was a planarium that was feeding on the earthworm. Then I found more in some of my drains. They like it wet.
I found this: http://www.buginfo.com/articles/worms.cfm
Ack! And after all of the effort I've gone to to get earthworms in my yard!!
