In Australia, the Gippsland Giant Earthworm, Megascolides australis M'Coy, has been listed as 'vulnerable' so has a conservation strategy, see: http://www.dce.vic.gov.au/plntanml/NATIVE/threaten/worm.htm In Tasmania, the Lake Pedder Earthworm is listed as endangered and probably extinct due to hydro-electric impoundment of Lake Pedder (I made an extensive survey of the Lake in 1996 and failed to re-discover this species). I believe there are also some 'endangered' earthworms in North America. <robblakemore at bigpond.com> -- ANNELIDA LIST Discuss = <annelida at net.bio.net> = talk to all members Server = <biosci-server at net.bio.net> = un/subscribes Archives = http://www.bio.net/hypermail/annelida/ Resources = http://biodiversity.uno.edu/~worms/annelid.html --