Pest control workers operating in a suburb in Virginia were stumped by a metrical unit - long , Snake River - like creature they did n’t acknowledge . According to a report from theCharlotte Observer , a now - delete Facebook post from Virginia Wildlife Management and Control ask followers for assistance identifying a strange looking snake , which they photographed in Midlothian , Richmond . The fauna in doubt was actually ahammerhead worm , also known as broadhead planaria , so key out for their unusual heads that make them appear a piece like a hammerhead shark . The mix up is understandable when you regard these bizarre wight can grow up to 0.6 meters ( 2 feet ) in distance .
It ’s a extremity of Bipalium , a genus of large predaceous land worms that are unique for a “ creeping sole ” of tightly packed cilium on their underside that they employ for locomotion . The effect see them glide around a spot like a milliped and they ’re surprisingly speedy . Far from ideal for their victim , which are mostly other dirt ball and sometimes other hammerheads . While their cock - like heads might lead you to think they eat from the front , their mouth are actually situate mid - ventrally where they ’ll push out their pharynx and pass digestive enzyme , subsequently take in up the stay worm soup .
Hammerhead louse are largely invasive in the United States , and the illegal alien presently feed in Virginia is a mintage aboriginal to Borneo that has been found hitch a ride on imported green goods or plant fabric . They ’re despicable in appearance with bold yellow coloration and a dark slip , giving the result of a coolheaded racer grade insignia . They possess both manful and distaff body parts and can reproduce asexually meaning the emergence of a low incursive population can speedily become a grownup trouble , a bit like thesemutant crawfish .
As if their volatile procreation was n’t tricky enough , they ’re also not the easiest to bolt down . If you stick a dunce flatworm in half it ’ll just regenerate into two sodding worms . The same can take place even if you chop them into seven part , so to avoid circumstantially raise a loggerhead louse army it ’s suggest bypest control expertsthat you dissolve them in either salt or citrus tree rock oil . It may seem coarse , but hammerhead worm feed mostly on earthworms , which are a vital ingredient for healthy soil .
