-->Adult Jumping Worms <--
-3 kinds of Jumping Worms in North America: Amynthas agrestis, Amynthas tokioensis and Metaphire hilgendorfi
-Common names are: Jumping Worms, Alabama Jumpers, Snake Worms
-1.5-8” long, ~1/4 inches wide
-Color: brown, gray-ish, black-ish
-Firm body, not slimey (regular earthworms are softy/squishy and slimey)
-60-90 days after becoming a hatchling from a cocoon, once a Jumping Worm’s clitellum is fully formed, they are considered adults.
-Adults found in MA from Mid-June through October (into November, if mild weather).
-reproduce asexually / parthogenically (don't need a partner).
-reproduce by sloughing off material from around the clitellum, in which 1 or 2 eggs have been deposited. Can create up to 30 cocoons.
-Clitellum: Adults have fully-formed clitellum, the white-ish band, smooth to the rest of it’s body, and goes all around the worm clitellum rings the worm (unlike European earth worms, whose clitellum is like a saddle, doesn’t go all around the body).
-Shorter distance from clitellum to head than other earthworms. Rings from the clitellum toward the head can be counted (~14-16 for Jumping Worms, 23-32 for European worms). Hint: take a photo of a suspect worm, then zoom in to count the rings.
-Tell-tale rapid movement can be observed, especially when disturbed (touched, picked up). The movement has been described as fast, erratic, violent thrashing, snake-like, flailing. There will be videos posted later in this album of moving Jumping Worms – once you see them moving, you’ll recognize no other worm moves like this!
-Castings (poop) from an adult jumping worm resemble coffee grounds, and instead of a little pile here and there as seen with other earthworms, the Jumping Worm castings will cover the area where the JWs are, and this soft casting pile typically goes down to ~3” so the soil is soft to dig or step in, as their population eats through organic matter.
-Prevention is key; there are no pesticides currently labelled for (and no other viable control methods to manage) Jumping Worms yet. (see *Solarizing at the bottom of this post. There will be another post dedicated to prevention methods in this album)
-Surface to 3” down. Found in leaf matter, down to ~3” deep in the soil (other earthworms go down as deep at 9 feet!).
-Can travel 40’/year.
-Don’t survive cold weather – typically start to die around 40F degrees. All adults die in freezing temperatures.
-Don’t survive *solarizing
-Can climb vertically, in favorable (moist) conditions, onto decks, porches, out of 5 gal pails.
* Solarizing: “You can solarize soils placing a low pile (between 6 to 8 inches deep, 10 to 15 feet long and 4 to 8 feet wide) on top of a clear piece of plastic like a painter's drop cloth, then cover it with a sheet of the same material, tucking in the edges to prevent worms from escaping. Leave in the sun for 2 to 3 days to get the temperature over 150 ÌŠF which will kill both cocoons and worms. Check the temperature with a thermometer if you have one. Pre-bagged compost or soils can be left in bags to solarize as above.” – “Invasive Species for Homeowners: Asian Jumping Worm” Cornell University, http://ccetompkins.org/resources/jumping-worm-fact-sheet