Denver has a new invasive species, and it looks very similar to your standard earthworm.
In a series of public announcements this week, the state Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of amynthas agrestis in Colorado soil. Better known as the Asian jumping worm, the intruding invertebrates are aggressive compared to native earthworms and European nightcrawlers, and are “rapidly spreading across the United States,” according to the CDA.
Also known as “Alabama jumpers,” “Georgia jumpers,” and “crazy worms,” jumping worms are more active than nightcrawlers and often thrash or move erratically when disturbed in soil. According to the USDA’s National Invasive Species Information Center, jumping worms originated in Asia and have been in the U.S. since at least the late 1800s, mostly in the southeast part of the country, but they have been actively spreading north and west as of late…