Let’s just skip past the usual 2020 apocalypse bingo card jokes and get on with the next bizarre infestation reaching our shores. And like so many other recent stories, this one originated in Asia also, potentially from China. Many of the earlier threats were of the winged variety, whether they be billions of locusts in Africa (that will no doubt be showing up in North America any day now) or the ever-popular Murder Hornets, they all represented terror from the skies, right? But how about terror from under the ground?

This time it’s worms. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. How scary can worms be? And what sort of threats could they possibly pose? Well, for one thing, these worms are half a foot long and they’re capable of jumping up into the air. And no… I’m not even making this up. They’ve shown up in western New York State (the more rural portion) and biologists are concerned that they may be wiping out the leaf beds in the forests. (WCPO News)

University at Buffalo earthworm expert Nick Henshue says Amynthas, invasive “jumping” earthworms with destructive potential, are appearing in the Western New York area.

The earthworms live in the top few inches of soil, can grow to about the length of a pencil and gobble up fallen leaves that experts say play a vital role in forest ecosystems.

Henshue believes the invasive earthworms may have been transported to the area in part via contaminated mulch.

“In agricultural systems, earthworms can be great, but in forests in our area, these jumping worms reduce leaf litter, which is really a protective layer that we rely on to protect and hide seeds and keep the sun off newly germinating plants,” Henshue said.

So how did these things show up in New York? One idea very appropriate to the whole 2020 apocalypse theme immediately popped up from one of my followers when I mentioned this on Twitter earlier today, so I really can’t take credit for it.

THAT WAS WHAT WAS IN THE SEEDS!?!?

— No Lives Matter (@WorldictatorTom) August 24, 2020

It would have been one of the most 2020 things ever if these worms had really come from the mystery seed packages the Chinese were sending around earlier this summer. And it’s true that some worm, particularly the smaller, more armored ones like mealworms, can go into a dormant state where they roll themselves up and look something like a seed. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

Here’s a video of a gardener who has to deal with these things in Wisconsin explaining the trouble they cause and showing some of them. I really don’t see them “jumping” but they are quite active.

Here’s a link to another video I won’t embed here because it’s kind of gross, but a woman has a whole bowl of these worms and she’s trying to keep them from getting away. Again, I’m not sure if “jumping” is the word I would use, but they do manage to escape rather quickly and easily.

There you have it. The next disaster looming on our horizon. These worms do sound pretty destructive in terms of ruining the topsoil and driving out native plants and insects. But that’s the nature of invasive species. These things don’t belong here, they probably don’t have many natural predators, and they quickly take over the landscape. Still better than hornets, I suppose. You should be able to outrun a worm pretty easily.