Predatory Toxic Worms Spotted in Ontario, Harmful to Pets, Children

A predatory worm that carries a neurotoxin has been recently spotted in the Toronto area. Dubbed the hammerhead flatworm or Bipalium adventitium, there have been sightings of it reported near Hamilton on March 30 and Newmarket on March 8, according to iNaturalist.ca, a self-described Canada-wide citizen science wildlife reporting platform. The platform allows people to post photos of creatures, such as the hammerhead flatworm, that they spot in their backyard or nearby parks. Bipalium adventitium was first discovered in Canada in a neighbourhood of Montreal in 2018, according to an article in Zootaxa, a journal for animal taxonomists. “The hammerhead flatworms (subfamily Bipaliinae) are spectacular, by their large size, up to one meter, their distinctive colours, and the typical shape of their head which makes them easy to identify,” authors Jean-Lou Justine, Thomas Thery, Delphine Gey, and Leigh Winsor wrote....