Amynthas japonicus

{{Short description|Extinct species of annelid worm}}

{{Speciesbox

| status = EX

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Blakemore, R.J. |year= 2018 |title= Amynthas japonicus |errata= 2018 |page= e.T118812839A135691617 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T118812839A118818040.en|access-date=17 February 2023}}

| genus = Amynthas

| species = japonicus

| authority = (Horst, 1883)

| extinct = yes

| synonyms = Megascolex japonicus

}}

Megascolecidae earthworm Amynthas japonicus{{Cite web|url=http://www.senckenberg.uni-frankfurt.de/odes/03-11.pdf|title=Japanese earthworms (Annelida: Oligochaeta): a review and checklist of species|last=Blakemore|first=Robert J.|date=|website=Senckenberg University|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060202100950/http://www.senckenberg.uni-frankfurt.de/odes/03-11.pdf|archive-date=2006-02-02|access-date=|url-status=dead}} is an extinct Japanese native probably collected from Nagasaki in the 1820s. It was one of three native earthworms{{Cite journal|last=Blakemore|first=Robert J.|date=December 2018|title=Non-Flat Earth Recalibrated for Terrain and Topsoil|journal=Soil Systems|volume=2|issue=4|pages=64|doi=10.3390/soilsystems2040064|doi-access=free|bibcode=2018SoiSy...2...64B }} featured in Dr P.F.B. von Siebold's extensive collection and recorded as one of Japan's earliest pheretimoid species.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kahaku.go.jp/research/publication/zoology/download/38_3/BNMNS_A3803_095-124.pdf|title=On Opening a Box of Worms (Oligochaeta, Megascolecidae) — Historical Earthworm Specimens Transferred to Tokyo from the Saito Ho-on Kai Museum of Natural History in Sendai|last=Blakemore|first=Robert J.|date=|website=Kahkahu|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}} It is now deemed extinct given that a 2018 Nagasaki expedition and earlier 1930s reports failed to locate it.{{Cite web|url=http://nh.kanagawa-museum.jp/files/data/pdf/bulletin/48/bull48_55_60_blakemore.pdf|title=Extinction of Japan's first formally described earthworm Amynthas japonicus(Horst, 1883) (Annelida, Oligochaeta, Megadrilacea, Megascolecidae).|last=Blakemore|first=Robert J|date=|website=Kanagawa Museum|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}} It is featured on The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database.{{Cite web|url=https://recentlyextinctspecies.com/21-worms/1939-amynthas-japonicus|title=Amynthas japonicus - The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database (REPAD)|website=recentlyextinctspecies.com|access-date=2019-08-01}}