Homestead mailing list

["Karen L. Black" <karen AT plamondon.com>]

Lynda writes:

> There are "now" earthworms in most areas of the country.  The vast
majority are not natives and most areas, particularly forests, didn't have
earthworms before the European invasions.

North America has native earthworms in the families Sparganophilidae,
Acanthodrilidae, and Megascolecidae (home of my favorite, the Oregon Giant
Earthworm; Driloleirus macelfreshi
http://www.pacificbio.org/ESIN/OtherInvertebrates/OregonGiantEarthworm/Giant
Earthworm.html). Some areas, like the Great Lakes region, have no native
earthworms and their forests have evolved differently than those which do.
Non-native earthworms introduced to the area will have a much larger effect
than those introduced into areas where earthworms already exist.

Non-native earthworms account for about a third of the earthworm species in
North America at present. 

Karen Black
Blodgett, OR