Improved or New Jumping Worm Common Names

Here is the first suggested list of common names for jumping worms. The group of worms often referenced as jumping worms have many other less desirable names and several species had no generally accepted common name at all. The UMN Extension Invasive Species Community of Practice agreed to work on jumping worm names and formed a working group. Angela Gupta, UMN Extension Forester, Laura Van Riper, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Terrestrial Invasive Species Program Coordinator, and myself have been working on this issue for about an year.

As a related article, read this NY Times article, “This Moth’s Name Is a Slur. Scientists Won’t Use It Anymore.“

Or Eos. “Racist Slurs in Place-Names Have to Go, Say Geoscientists.” Accessed August 26, 2021. https://eos.org/articles/racist-slurs-in-place-names-have-to-go-say-geoscientists.