No. Earthworms are native to the United States, says Melissa McCormick, ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, but the earthworms in some northern parts of the country (including Vermont) aren’t indigenous. Thousands of years ago, glaciers that covered North America and reached as far south as present-day Illinois, Indiana and Ohio wiped out native earthworms. Species from Europe and Asia, most likely introduced unintentionally in ship ballast or the roots of imported plants, have spread throughout North America.
The only world where the majority of North America doesn’t have native earthworms is the Mercator projection. Sure, there are both non-native and invasive earthworms; however, its almost inevitable that these organisms would have made it this far north at some point: they were almost assuredly there prior to the latest glaciation. Owing to the fact that its not covered in a mile of ice any more, the worms were coming.
Now I’m confused. Here’s what Wikipedia says. The last ice age was 11,000 years ago, so presumably they should have spread back out northwards since then… or maybe they needed to evolve the ability to survive in the cold first, which they haven’t had time to do? IDK.
I’ll edit the title to be more accurate. I don’t necessarily see a conflict between the fine details of what the article says / what Wikipedia says / what Smithsonian says, but my title is misleading and the careless way I read the article led me to totally misunderstand it.
So the factoid that makes up the basis of this claim is…
False.
I’ve read that the earthworm is not indigenous to the United States. Is that true?
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/earthworm-native-united-states-more-questions-from-readers-180958094/
The only world where the majority of North America doesn’t have native earthworms is the Mercator projection. Sure, there are both non-native and invasive earthworms; however, its almost inevitable that these organisms would have made it this far north at some point: they were almost assuredly there prior to the latest glaciation. Owing to the fact that its not covered in a mile of ice any more, the worms were coming.
Oh shit
The plot thickens
Now I’m confused. Here’s what Wikipedia says. The last ice age was 11,000 years ago, so presumably they should have spread back out northwards since then… or maybe they needed to evolve the ability to survive in the cold first, which they haven’t had time to do? IDK.
I’ll edit the title to be more accurate. I don’t necessarily see a conflict between the fine details of what the article says / what Wikipedia says / what Smithsonian says, but my title is misleading and the careless way I read the article led me to totally misunderstand it.