Barnaby Domigan, aged 9, with the giant earthworm he found in his Christchurch garden. He was most impressed with himself.”Jo said while she considered the worm “the stuff of nightmares”, Barnaby was delighted. Marris said giant earthworms were once widespread, but were now were most likely to be found in undisturbed areas such as forests. “There are some very large native earthworms known – a metre isn’t beyond the borders of reason.”Marris said with 171 native earthworm species, a close examination would be needed to exactly identify an individual specimen. According to Te Ara encyclopedia, several New Zealand native species can be over 30cm long, and the longest, Spenceriella gigantea, can grow to 1.3m in length.

Source: Stuff September 02, 2022 22:41 UTC