The giant Gippsland earthworm, ''Megascolides australis'', is one of Australia's 1,000 native

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. T ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

Description

These giant earthworms average long and in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

and can reach in length; however, their body is able to expand and contract making them appear much larger. On average they weigh about . They have a dark purple head and a blue-grey body, and about 300 to 400 body segments.

Ecology

They live in the subsoil of blue, grey or red

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

soils along stream banks and some south- or west-facing hills of their remaining

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

which is in

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It cove ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. These worms live in deep burrow systems and require water in their environment to respire. They have relatively long life spans for

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s and can take 5 years to reach maturity. They breed in the warmer months and produce egg capsules that are to in length which are laid in their burrows. When these worms hatch in 12 months they are around long at birth. Unlike most earthworms which deposit castings on the surface, they spend almost all their time in burrows about in depth and deposit their castings there, and can generally only be flushed out by heavy rain. They are usually very sluggish, but when they move rapidly through their burrows, it can cause an audible gurgling or sucking sound which allows them to be detected.

Threatened status

Gippsland earthworm colonies are small and isolated, and the species' low reproductive rates and slow maturation make those small populations vulnerable.Victoria Resources Online: Giant Gippsland Earthworm
. Retrieved on July 23, 2012. Their natural habitats are grasslands, and while they can survive beneath pastures, cultivation, heavy cattle grazing and effluent run-off are adversarial to the species. The Gippsland earthworm requires moist loamy soil to thrive; dense tree planting negatively affects soil humidity, which in turn negatively affects the species' habitat. No successful breeding has yet been achieved in captivity.

Education

Until it closed in 2012 amid animal welfare concerns, Wildlife Wonderland Park near Bass, Victoria, was home to the Giant Earthworm Museum. Inside the worm-shaped museum, visitors could crawl through a magnified replica of a worm burrow and a simulated worm's stomach. Displays and educational material on the giant Gippsland earthworm and other natural history of Gippsland were also featured.

Tourism

Interest in the giant Gippsland earthworm has been exploited by the local tourist industry with an annual Karmai Festival in Korumburra. In the

Boonwurrung language The Boonwurrung language, also anglicised as Bunurong, Bun wurrung, and other variant spellings, is an Aboriginal Australian language traditionally spoken by the Boonwurrung people of the Kulin nation of central Victoria prior to European s ...

it is said to have been called ''karmai''.

References

External links

Giant Gippsland earthworm
at the

Museum Victoria Museums Victoria is an organisation which operates three major state-owned museums in Melbourne, Victoria: the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks Museum. It also manages the Royal Exhibition Building and a storage facili ...

website {{Taxonbar, from=Q141602 Megascolecidae Vulnerable fauna of Australia Animals described in 1878 Environment of Victoria (Australia) Endemic fauna of Australia Taxa named by Frederick McCoy