Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

In NZ, we have more than 200 described species of Earthworms, and we’re still finding new ones!   Most of them, about 170 species, are NATIVE earthworms belonging to 3 families. They are more or less restricted to native habitats; forests and tussock-lands. We know relatively little about these species – some may be very rare.   INTRODUCED species are in pasture and modified landscapes. They got here in plants and soil material from overseas. Some were deliberately introduced as they were found to improve pastures for farming. These introduced species are the ones you find in your garden.  How do they move?Let’s go back to their Classification and we find a clue: class oligochaeta. From Greek "oligos", few, and "chaite" , hair. That means that these worms have “few hairs”. I tend to disagree with that: when you pick up an earthworm and stretch it a bit between your fingers, the skin often feels like an “un-shaven face”. There are many hairs per body segment to give it friction and “purchase” to move through t