These predaceous flatworms look like something out of a bad 1950’s sci-fi movie, sometimes described as snake-like with a hammer for a head. She also noted that the invasive creatures could negatively impact local plants: “Our entire ecosystem is based on the existence of earthworms so if you remove earthworms from our environment, our plants, our forests, our crops, our gardens, they are not going to be able to get the nutrients they normally do.Recently, we have received several inquiries about hammerhead worms and their prevalence in Kentucky. But we did start seeing an uptick in reports from the Central Texas area in between Austin and Dallas” Ashley Morgan-Olvera with the Texas Invasive Species Institute told KCENTV. Never did we expect a Facebook post to take off like that.

In July, a woman living just north of Dallas, Texas, posted an image of a hammerhead flathead worm, which prompted several people to report the presence of the worms to the Texas Invasive Species Institute. Invasive Southeast Asian Hammerhead Flatworm in Dallas!!! This one was found in zip area of 75252 in a backyard…Posted by Debbie Meyers on Tuesday, June 22, 2021 Hammerhead flatworms have also been found in North Carolina, Texas, Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, as well as in greenhouses in Kentucky, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Oklahoma. They seek humid, hot, and wet environments, which is why it’s not particularly surprising they were found in Tennessee. Today, they are most likely spread through landscaping soil and nursery plants. The worms, which are endemic to Southeast Asia, have been found in the U.S.

Though hammerhead flatworms are not native to the United States, they’ve been here for quite some time. Two more hammerhead flatworms invaded his house a few days later. The strange creature, which is named for its distinctive ax-like head, was quite a shock to the man who discovered it on his laundry room floor-and thought it was a snake at first. An invasive, slimy worm called a hammerhead flatworm recently slithered into the home of a man in eastern Tennessee.

Worms with flat heads