What is Giant Gippsland earthworm?
{{Taxobox | name = Giant Gippsland earthworm | image = Megascolides australis by Bartholomew.png | status = EN | status_system = iucn3.1 | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Annelida]] | subclassis = [[Oligochaeta]] | familia = [[Megascolecidae]] | genus = ''[[Megascolides]]'' | binomial = ''Megascolides australis''}} The '''giant Gippsland earthworm''' (''Megascolides australis'') is one of [[Australia]]'s 1,000 native earthworm species. These Giant earthworms average at 100 [[centimeter|cm]] long and 2&nbsp;cm in [[diameter]] and can reach 3 [[metre|m]] in length.<ref>[http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_6/b_fdi_45-46/010008126.pdf Diversity of Soil Fauna and Ecosystem Function], Biology International. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.</ref> It is difficult to measure length, as the worms will stretch, so scientists use weight to estimate the size.<ref name=musvic>Museumvictoria.com.au, (2015). Giant Gippsland Earthworm: Museum Victoria . [online] Available at: http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/infosheets/giant-gippsland-earthworm/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214072725/http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/infosheets/giant-gippsland-earthworm/ |date=2013-12-14 }} [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015].</ref> The average weight of a fresh adult worm is about 200 grams.<ref name=musvic/> They have a dark [[purple]] [[head]] and a [[blue]]-[[gray]] [[body]]. The worms are found in the Bass River Valley of South Gippsland, near [[Korumburra, Victoria|Korumburra]] and [[Warragul, Victoria|Warragul]].<ref name=musvic/> They are only found in a small area, of about 100,000 hectares. They live in small pockets of blue-grey clay close to water. They live in burrows about 500mm deep, and can [[burrow]] as deep as 1.5m.<ref name=musvic/> The habitat the worms used to live in was tall eucalypt forests. Most of this has been cleared for farming, but the worms have continued to survive because they live deep underground. They have been listed a [[vulnerable species