New Zealand Flatworm?

hairyfairy00

Hey all, my cousin found this worm in his garden today. We think it's a New Zealand Flatworm but we're not certain. Anyone have any idea

Mothman

Yes its a Flat worm, but I believe it is Australian Flatworm Australoplana Sanguinea Alba
New Zealand Flatworm is a dark colour.

Kess73

Yeah the Aussie flatworm is a much lighter colour than it's NZ counterpart, and is much smaller, normally ranging from an inch to about 3 inches when fully grown, whereas the NZ flatworm would be around the 5 or six inch mark.

Not a great sign to find one to be honest. More research has been done on the NZ flatworn in terms of it's impact in the UK (and I would imagine that it would have a similar impact in Ireland) and it was shown to have a terrible effect on native earthworm, quite often wiping them out totally in areas that had a lot of NZ flatworm. It has not been confirmed if the Aussie flatworm is as harmful but it is generally regarded as a possible cause for concern when found in the UK.

If they do impact on the earthworm population in a similar manner to the NZ flatworm, they could be a long term problem in land used for grazing and in land/gardens that produces plants that sustain native animals, also the wiping out of earthworm would impact upon many native species.

hairyfairy00

Thanks for the responses, my cousin has sent the photo to the Invasive Species website.

BargainHunter

You can blame the garden centers for bringing that invasive species into Ireland.

All garden centers should be banned from importing any more non native plants. They are destroying our ecosystem, with their crap.

You should only plant native plants and trees in your garden. Tell your local garden centre you dont buy foreign crap, and only want native irish plants.

planetX

I have both types in my garden:mad::mad::mad: That is the australian one, the NZ flatworm is much bigger and a horrible greenish brown colour.
They were here when I moved in - in an area that was obviously done by a landscaping company. I'm in the process of pulling up the weed control fabric and killing hundreds of the f@~kers. I am still finding earthworms though, so hopefully some kind of balance was struck.
Goes without saying but your cousin shouldn't give anyone seedlings or plants from the garden:(

magicbastarder

BargainHunter wrote: »

All garden centers should be banned from importing any more non native plants. They are destroying our ecosystem, with their crap.

you realise that garden centres would quickly go out of business?

doctor evil

planetX wrote: »

I have both types in my garden:mad::mad::mad: That is the australian one, the NZ flatworm is much bigger and a horrible greenish brown colour.
They were here when I moved in - in an area that was obviously done by a landscaping company. I'm in the process of pulling up the weed control fabric and killing hundreds of the f@~kers. I am still finding earthworms though, so hopefully some kind of balance was struck.
Goes without saying but your cousin shouldn't give anyone seedlings or plants from the garden:(

Nightmare, companies should be liable for this kind of thing.

These yokes can go months with barely anthing so I don't know how much of a balance if any can be achieved.

planetX

doctor evil wrote: »

Nightmare, companies should be liable for this kind of thing.

These yokes can go months with barely anthing so I don't know how much of a balance if any can be achieved.

I'd say the landscaping was done around 8 years ago, so they've been here that long and there are still earthworms around. The space between the soil and the weed control fabric was obviously ideal for them, so hopefully with that gone I'll be able to reduce their numbers.
OP I've read up on what can be done, and basically the advice is to add lots of organic matter to the soil to give as much help to the earthworms as possible, and of course kill every flatworm you find. I was so hopeful that the spell of -15 last winter would've killed them off.... but no:(

Kess73

There will be no balance found in terms of you having both types of flatworm and earthworm in the same garden though. The end result will be zero earthworm.:(


They have caused chaos in parts of Northern England and Scotland. Once they get a proper grip on an area they can wipe out every earthworm in acres and acres of land.

magicbastarder

what do they live on if the earthworms run out?

CJhaughey

BargainHunter wrote: »

You can blame the garden centers for bringing that invasive species into Ireland.

Actually, I'd blame the biosecurity measures that this country uses.
Non-existant border controls and no inspection of any imported plants etc
For a country that depends on Agriculture for a lot of foreign earnings its a pretty slapdash way of operating.
Just waiting for the next Foot and Mouth TBH...

planetX

Kess73 wrote: »

There will be no balance found in terms of you having both types of flatworm and earthworm in the same garden though. The end result will be zero earthworm.:(


.

surely that would have happened in 8 years though? I still have plenty of earthworms, even in that area where the flatworm are found. I'm hoping something is limiting them...

BargainHunter

CJhaughey wrote: »

Actually, I'd blame the biosecurity measures that this country uses.
Non-existant border controls and no inspection of any imported plants etc
For a country that depends on Agriculture for a lot of foreign earnings its a pretty slapdash way of operating.
Just waiting for the next Foot and Mouth TBH...

The garden centre businesses engage in political lobbying against any control on imported plants, because it would cut into their profits.

I think its crazy that RTEs Mooney program promotes wildlife on their Friday show but then on other days, they have a professional gardener, Dermot O'Neill encouraging people to buy and plant of exotic non-irish species.

4ntimatter

Hi there, I was out digging for worms for my pet chickens today, when I found a flatworm, which I'd never even
heard of before, till I looked it up, and came to this forum. My girlfriend bought two little heather bushes from Tesco's
2 week's ago, and we bought a Lavender bush from our local garden center, about a year ago, I'm having no problem finding worms, although I'm not finding any large worms, like I used to when I was a kid. So I'm wondering if the year old lavender bush is the culprit, or the 2 week old small heather bushes? If they were here a year, would I be finding any worms??

Any help would be great.
Thank you.
Gary.

P.s the kids will be having flatworm for supper

Triangulata

hairyfairy00 wrote: »

Hey all, my cousin found this worm in his garden today. We think it's a New Zealand Flatworm but we're not certain. Anyone have any idea

Hi there,

I'd really like to hear from you about the flatworms. I believe you found an Australian flatworm in your garden.

I'm doing some research on the little divils and would would really find it useful if I could get a few details from you.

Triangulata

Hi there,

I would really like to hear more about the Australian flatworms you found in your garden.

I'm doing some research on them comparing their preferred habitat to that of the New Zealand flatworm.

Would much appreciate your input.

Triangulata

planetX wrote: »

I have both types in my garden:mad::mad::mad: That is the australian one, the NZ flatworm is much bigger and a horrible greenish brown colour.
They were here when I moved in - in an area that was obviously done by a landscaping company. I'm in the process of pulling up the weed control fabric and killing hundreds of the f@~kers. I am still finding earthworms though, so hopefully some kind of balance was struck.
Goes without saying but your cousin shouldn't give anyone seedlings or plants from the garden:(

Hi There,

I would really like to hear more about the flatworms you found in your garden.

I'm doing a bit of research into them at the moment and it would be really usefull to hear first hand a bit about them.

I am unfortunately familiar with the New Zealand variety but I would really like to get some info on the Australian ones living in this country.

planetX

4ntimatter wrote: »

Hi there, I was out digging for worms for my pet chickens today, when I found a flatworm, which I'd never even
heard of before, till I looked it up, and came to this forum. My girlfriend bought two little heather bushes from Tesco's
2 week's ago, and we bought a Lavender bush from our local garden center, about a year ago, I'm having no problem finding worms, although I'm not finding any large worms, like I used to when I was a kid. So I'm wondering if the year old lavender bush is the culprit, or the 2 week old small heather bushes? If they were here a year, would I be finding any worms??

Any help would be great.
Thank you.
Gary.

P.s the kids will be having flatworm for supper

don't feed them to your chickens - you're not supposed to handle them with bare skin, they ooze an irritant.