The other morning, a reader found a “worm” in his daughter’s bedroom. It was a thin creature, with a dark grey body and lighter colored strips. Its body was hard and about four inches long, although its normal position was a curve (in the shape of a “c”). It also completely curled into itself when disturbed. Finally – and here’s the real identifying factor – it had “hundred of tiny legs.” What was this thing?
After answering so many reader questions about worms, basically no question strikes as unusual. We’ve answered questions about buying live tropical aquatic worms and worms that were found in bone marrow, to cite a couple of articles written in the last couple of weeks. However, we recently came across a truly puzzling question, one that involves such diverse subjects as foriegn markets, milk jugs, and, of course, worms. Allow us to explain.
A reader wrote to us recently about worms he found in his shower. The worms are really thin and are of a reddish hue, and they are about two inches long, more or less. With these characteristics taken together, the reader reports that these worms look like particularly small and thin earthworms, just like the ones you see outside after it rains. What are these worms?
A reader wrote to us about hookworms, or what are believed to hookworms, afflicting his dog. Having observed the worms, which the reader described as 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch long with rounded (or perhaps “hooked” is the better term) ends, he asked what hookworms look like. We’ll address this specific question, but we’ll also say a few remarks about hookworms in general, just in case some of our readers are not familiar with this common parasitic worm found in dogs (and other mammals, including humans, for that matter).
“I have several little worms in my basement that curl up at the touch.” So starts a reader’s lament, in reference to a possible millipede problem in his basement. (Millipedes, by the way, are not actually worms, but they do look like them, so referring to millipedes as “small worms” is reasonable.) The reader goes on to say that water has been leaking into his basement, and he thinks that this might be responsible for the large amount of millipedes in his basement. Not surprisingly, he wants to know how to get rid of the millipedes.
We recently received an interesting question from a reader concerned about Catawba worms and Royal Empress trees. The reader has planted a Royal Empress tree in his yard, but he also wants to plant a catalpa tree because these trees attract Catawba worms (in fact, catalpa trees are often called “Catawba trees”), which are excellent fish bait because of their tough skin (fish can’t just pick them off the hook). The reader has a pond on his property that his brother loves to fish in, and hence the desire for a catalpa tree and the Catawba worms that feed on their leaves. The problem is this: Royal Empress trees are very similar to catalpa trees, so the reader fears that if he plants the latter, the Catawba worms will show up and feed on both trees, not just the catalpa tree. So, the reader is essentially wondering how discriminating Catawba worms are in their tastes. Will they only eat catalpa trees, as they are famous for doing, or will they also eat similar trees, like Royal Empress trees?
Cucumber worms have infected a reader’s fruit, we have recently learned. The reader knew that his fruit, the variety of which is unspecified, was infected by a cucumber worm, so he promptly threw it away (good call, as they leave pits in the rinds of fruits and vegetables, and worms leave behind their waste, known as “frass”). However, since the cucumber worm was discovered and the fruit it infected has been discarded, can the reader still keep the rest of the plant, or is the entire plant beyond hope because one of its fruits was infected?
Roundworms, also known as nematodes (and sometimes incorrectly spelled “round worms”), are one of the most diverse animals in the world. Over 28,000 roundworm species have been discovered, well over half of which are parasitic. The present accounting of roundworms is no where near complete, however, as it has been estimated that there are over 1,000,000 species of roundworms on the planet. That is 1,000,000 different species of roundworms, not just the number, of course, of roundworms on the planet in general, which is surely larger by several orders of magnitude. Some people confuse roundworms, and ringworm, probably because ’round’ and ‘ring’ seem similar, however ringworm, which is not actually a worm at all, is something completely different.
The annelids are a large phylum of segmented worms; consequently, annelids are commonly called simply “segmented worms.” (They are also, by the way, called “ringed worms,” as the worms’ segmented bodies often make them look like they are wrapped in small rings.) There are over 17,000 species in the annelid phylum, according to recent research, and while this is far less diverse than the phylum Nematoda, which is estimated to have approximately 1,000,000 species, the annelids are still extremely diverse relative to other species of animals.