Killer worm threatened by highway extension

A rare worm which kills its prey by covering it in a glue-like substance and dissolving its innards is under threat by a project to extend a Dunedin motorway.

The peripatus worm, which has been around for 500 million years, lives in a damp forest near Dunedin's Caversham highway, which the New Zealand Transport Agency's (NZTA) plans to extend to four lanes, The Otago Daily Times reported.

As part of this $49 million project the NZTA would have to buy land on the northern side of the motorway which was reserved for the worm.

University of Otago Emeritus Professor Sir Alan Mark said the worm, which is protected by Dunedin City Council staff and Forest and Bird, was "a sort of missing link between worms and the insect group".

New Zealand Transport Agency project manager Simon Underwood said it would be carrying out an entomological assessment report and would work to "manage" a worm population if one was found.

- NZPA