Exotic earthworm found in Karnataka for the first time
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An unique and extremely invasive earthworm — Amynthas alexandri of the Megascolecidae household — has been collected and reported for the first time from Karnataka. Its unique house is believed to be Southeast Asia.
It has been found to be distributed at 4 websites in the State — Hosabale and Hosanagara in Shivamogga district, Kaimara in Chikkamagaluru district, and Konaje in Dakshina Kannada.
Earlier, the identical earthworm was recorded in 15 States/Union Territories in India, in accordance with a research printed in the January challenge of the Canadian journal Megadrilogica, a world scientific journal dedicated to publishing earthworm research from throughout the world.
The research — Amynthas alexandri Beddarad, 1901 (Clitellata: Megascolecidae), a brand new addition to the earthworm fauna of Karnataka State, Southern India — was carried out and reported in the journal by 4 researchers, together with two from Mangalore University.
They have been Vivek Hasyagar, a analysis scholar in the Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University; K.S. Sreepada, chairman and researcher, Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University; S. Prasanth Narayanan, researcher, Advanced Centre of Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala; and John W. Reynolds, analysis affiliate, New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
Prof. Sreepada and Mr. Hasyagar advised The Puucho that the distribution of Amynthas alexandri was additionally found at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada just lately.
The 4 authors concluded in the journal: “…being large, fast-moving and highly invasive in nature, this species has practically inhabited all the districts of Kerala. As has happened in Kerala, soon it may invade the northern portions of the Western Ghats in Karnataka.”
Amynthas alexandri is a medium-to-large-sized worm and its color is brownish in mild and darkish at dorsum. Its size varies from 132 mm to 169 mm, and it’s 5 mm to six mm in diameter.
Earthworms are essential for sustaining the soil fertility of forests, grasslands, and agro-ecosystems.
The origins
The unique house of Amynthas alexandri earthworms is believed to be Southeast Asia, although the kind of specimen noticed for the first time in India by Beddard in 1901 had its origin in Kolkata.
Their distribution in Asia earlier was in China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand, Europe and England.
Their distribution in India earlier was in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal.
(Source: Megadrilogica, January 2021)
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