Earthworm expert finds extinct specimen

Sam James didn't let a little word like extinction stop him. Along with a team of researchers, he set out to find a needle in a haystack—a very special, though unremarkable-looking worm living in the jungles of Brazil. In February, James, a research associate with KU's Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, found scientific success and the Fimoscolex sporadochaetus earthworm, previously deemed extinct.

Along with his fellow scientists, James believed the declaration of extinction was made prematurely. In 2003, Brazilian officials declared the worm, originally discovered in 1918, extinct. In 1998, the species was considered to be in danger of becoming extinct, as it had not been seen since 1969. "There's no reason (they were declared extinct)," James said. "It's just nobody looked. We think that whole forest has probably got them crawling around."

He was on a National Science Foundation-funded trip to Brazil to research the co-evolution of worms and bacteria when he made his discovery. The research team included members from the University of Washington and EMBRAPA, the agricultural research wing of Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture, Cattle and Supplying. James and his colleagues searched with no success in two locations in southern Brazil but didn't give up. They began digging in a forested area nearby and found scores of worms to take back to the lab of George Brown, James' Brazilian colleague.

After examining the worm under a microscope and comparing it to literature, they were sure they had found a Fimoscolex sporadochaetus. James said the declaration of extinction for the pinkish-gray worms was made too hastily. Fimoscolex sporadochaetus is quite ordinary looking, which probably contributed to its condemnation to the extinction list. It also doesn't have any apparent agricultural or economic benefit, so it likely wouldn't have been missed if it were extinct. "It doesn't fit into the local culture or economy the way some earthworms do," James said. The research team has contacted Brazilian authorities to inform them of the find and will also report their findings to Brazilian scientific journals.
 
James and Brown are hoping lightning strikes twice. They plan to return to the same general area of Brazil to search for a bigger worm species also considered extinct.

This one might be a little easier to find, because it grows 4 to 6 feet long.