Notorious invasive worm slithers into Florida

One of the most notorious invasive species in the world has turned up in the mainland United States, raising new concerns about a flatworm that devours snails and earthworms, researchers said Tuesday.

Known as the New Guinea flatworm (Platydemus manokwari), the slimy creature has already made its way to France, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Tahiti and other nations, according to the study in the journal PeerJ.

Now it has been spotted in several gardens in Miami, Florida and experts fear that it may upset the local ecosystem by eating earthworms and native snails that are important for soil and plants.

The flatworm, which is native to New Guinea, also doesn't have many known predators. Birds are turned off by its strong taste.

"This should be considered a significant threat to the whole of the US and even to the rest of the Americas," said the study led by Jean-Lou Justine of the Institute of Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity in Paris.

"The record in Florida is of particular concern because it is in mainland America," the study said.

"Until now infested territories were mostly islands and the spread of the species from island to island is limited."

The flatworm can "easily be passively spread with infested plants, plant parts and soil," the article added.

The black-and-olive colored flatworm measures 50 millimeters (two inches) long and five mm wide. It has a pale white belly, a mouth in the middle of the belly and an elongated head with two black eyes.

The flatworm lives on the ground but is able to climb trees to eat native snails.

It is listed on the top 100 worst invasive species list maintained by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which says it has been introduced in new areas in a "misguided" attempt to control another invasive creature, giant African land snails.