![]() ![]() ![]() So at about 4 a.m., Sei headed to a spot in the garden where the day before she had seen empty snail shells. ![]() Sei, who works two offices down from Robinson, was hoping to sequence their genomes as part of a project tracing the evolution of land snails in Jamaica.īecause it had been dry, another biologist suggested she look at night. In August 2014, Makiri Sei, another malacologist -the official title for a snail scientist -was in Miami looking for live tropical snails at the Montgomery Botanical Garden on Old Cutler Road. Two years passed before a third worm was reported on Southwest 192nd Terrace. Four months later, another sighting was reported on Northwest Fifth Avenue. on Southwest 122nd Street in Miami in June 2012. In his study, Justine said the worm was first reported in the U.S. "The real problem will be if they go into the wild." "In the beginning, we are going to find them mainly in gardens because they will be transported from garden to garden," he said. mainland more alarming, said Justine, speaking to The Herald from Paris. The worm, native to New Guinea, has now been documented in 22 countries, mostly island nations, making its arrival on the U.S. ![]() An acidic goo from the stomach dissolves the snail's flesh so the worm can re-swallow both stomach and prey. To get around a snail's armor, the worm latches onto the shell's opening, then spits its stomach out through the mouth on its belly. Robinson has seen pictures of a Giant African Land Snail -another invasive marauder that is the target of a state eradication campaign -being attacked by a pack of 30 to 40 flatworms. While humans face little risk from the worm, it thrives on snails and will eat any slug, worm or soft critter living in soil. "From Miami, the flatworm can go anywhere in Florida and anywhere in the U.S.," said Jean-Lou Justine, lead author of a study published June 23 in the online science journal PeerJ and a researcher at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. Scientists worry the worm -which is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as one of the planet's 100 most invasive species -could spread by being transported in garden soil or on plants. ![]()
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