The longest earthworm is Microchaetus rappi of South Africa. In 1967 a giant specimen measuring 6.7 m (21 ft) in length when naturally extended and 20 mm (0.8 in) in diameter was found on a road between Alice and King William's Town.
The Oregon giant earthworm is one of North America's largest earthworm species, reaching up to 1.32 m (4.3 ft.) in length.
The Giant Gippsland Earthworm Megascolides australis is only found in small areas of South and West Gippsland, Victoria. It is one of the largest earthworms in the world, often exceeding one metre in length. It is rarely seen due to its underground life cycle but sometimes can be heard as it moves beneath the ground.
Worms vary in size from microscopic to over 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length for marine polychaete worms (bristle worms); 6.7 metres (22 ft) for the African giant earthworm, Microchaetus rappi; and 58 metres (190 ft) for the marine nemertean worm (bootlace worm), Lineus longissimus.
The Giant Gippsland Earthworm is one of the largest earthworms in the world. It grows to 80–100+ cm long and is 2 cm in diameter. It has 300 to 400 body segments.
Although Australia has over 1000 species of native earthworms, Gippsland is home to possibly the largest and undoubtedly the most famous of all earthworms - the Giant Gippsland Earthworm.
Don't be fooled though, they make up for it with the interesting aspects they do have. Like five hearts that squeeze two blood vessels to push blood throughout their little bodies. Earthworms have mucus and little hairs covering their skin that allows them to move through different types of soil.
Besides the well-known 'Gippsland Giant', Megascolides australis, cited in the Guinness Book of Records at 3 metres, others also grow large. A species of Digaster found near Kyogle in north-eastern New South Wales, often grows to a length of more than 150 cm and is as thick as a garden hose.
They are not all small and brown – some Australian native worms are enormous. The 'Gippsland Giant' holds a Guinness World Record for growing up to 3 metres long. A species found in north-eastern New South Wales often grows longer than 150 cm and is as thick as a garden hose.
They might sense something, but it is not painful and does not compromise their well-being."
There are no known natural predators (Yen and Van Praagh 1994). . The Giant Gippsland Earthworm is endemic to South and West Gippsland.
These earthworms are very rare, found only in one river valley located in southeast Australia – the Bass River Valley of South Gippsland. In the entire world, these worms can only be found in an area that totals about 150 square miles.
The sandworms of Dune are 10 times that size. While it is theoretically possible for an animal that large to exist, there are a few biomechanical problems that make it unlikely.
The worm species is the largest marine jawed worm ever found, and was discovered in sedimentary rock from Canada.
Researchers have discovered that giant sandworms, previously known only in fiction, actually roamed the seafloor near Taiwan millions of years ago.
Perhaps Australia's most remarkable creature is a gentle, extremely delicate colossus few have had the privilege of glimpsing: the giant Gippsland earthworm, which can grow to some 6 feet long. Give it a stretch--only if it's already dead, you chucklehead--and it can easily double in length.
Reports from French Guiana document the capture of giant earthworms (0.6–1 m in length) by the giant tarantula, Theraphosa blondi (Latreille, 1804). Predation on giant earthworms by large tarantulas has also been observed in rainforest habitats in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
The most common worm in Australian children is the threadworm, Enterobius vermicularis, sometimes called the pinworm. Infection with other worms such as roundworms, hookworms and tapeworms is less common. Threadworms are small, white, thread-like worms 2 to 13 mm long.
Baby worms develop in cocoons. They are babies for 60 to 90 days and it takes them about a year to become an adult. Worms can live for up to 10 years. Worms don't have a stomach.
They burrow during the day—typically keeping close to the surface—capable of digging down as deep as 6.5 feet.
That's right, four out of every five animals on earth are nematode worms. Microscopic soil nematodes in action. Microscopic soil nematodes in action. A new study of soil nematodes co-authored by Adams reveals that there are 57 billion of them for every single living human being — much greater than previously estimated.
The number of eggs within one cocoon can vary between species, ranging between 1 and 20 from earthworm species in the family Lumbricidae (but most species have just 1).
How many hearts does spider have? Spiders have one tube-shaped heart that pumps a fluid called haemolymph through an open circulatory system.
The earthworms of Australia
The new Broken Hill species is not only sufficiently different anatomically and remote from other Australian earthworms, so as to warrant erection of a new genus (Aridulodrilus), but its occurrence in such a low rainfall environment is also highly unusual.