It’s enough to make even an annelidologist squirm — a bowl of jumping, gyrating earthworms. …“They’ve been around a while and they’re coming more and more onto the radar in Ontario,” says Colin Cassin with the Invasive Species Centre in Peterborough. Known as Asian jumping worms… the slimy little annelids are interlopers that have the potential to profoundly change Ontario’s forests, threatening even the provincial flower, the trillium. Native to Asia, the jumping worms have been in North America for more than a century, but they have begun to increase their range in recent years. Populations are well established in Great Lakes states. …“Wisconsin and New York have been pretty familiar with them for a while, but in Ontario, we’re only just becoming aware of them.” …Jumping worms reduce the soil to tiny pellets like coffee grounds, which can easily be washed away.