Never did we expect a Facebook post to take off like that. In July, a woman living just north of Dallas, Texas, posted an image of a hammerhead flathead worm, which prompted several people to report the presence of the worms to the Texas Invasive Species Institute. Invasive Southeast Asian Hammerhead Flatworm in Dallas!!! This one was found in zip area of 75252 in a backyard…Posted by Debbie Meyers on Tuesday, June 22, 2021 Some hammerhead flatworms may carry the parasite that causes rat lungworm. It helps the flatworms digest earthworms but can lead to an adverse reaction with human skin. The toxin is the same one that’s produced by pufferfish. Moreover, they secrete a toxic slime that includes chemicals that make them unpalatable to other predators. They’re predatory and consume earthworms that are beneficial to the overall health of soils. The wild-looking creatures are known to regenerate if cut into pieces. Hammerhead flatworms can grow up to 15 inches long but usually are 8 to 12 inches in length. Hammerhead flatworms have also been found in North Carolina, Texas, Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, as well as in greenhouses in Kentucky, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Oklahoma. They seek humid, hot, and wet environments, which is why it’s not particularly surprising they were found in Tennessee. Today, they are most likely spread through landscaping soil and nursery plants. The worms, which are endemic to Southeast Asia, have been found in the U.S. Though hammerhead flatworms are not native to the United States, they’ve been here for quite some time. Two more hammerhead flatworms invaded his house a few days later. The strange creature, which is named for its distinctive ax-like head, was quite a shock to the man who discovered it on his laundry room floor-and thought it was a snake at first. An invasive, slimy worm called a hammerhead flatworm recently slithered into the home of a man in eastern Tennessee.
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