“Really appreciate your response to my last question where you surmised, based on poor photos, that I had carpet beetle larvae/maggots”, writes Billy in his submission regarding the spiky, black, worm-like critter pictured below. “However, I continue to have these random appearances from these creatures, and the behaviour didn’t seem to make sense. I’m attaching what I hope are better pictures, where you can see that these creatures have legs rather than bristles. As mentioned previously, they seem to appear in random places on the wall (high level) and ceiling but always gravitate towards bright areas of the room. I’d appreciate it if you can have a re-look at the attached. Thanks.”

Firstly, we want to welcome Billy back. It’s always nice to hear back from our readers, though we understand it might not be under the best circumstances. We are sorry to hear that the issue has not subsided for Billy. Secondly, we want to thank him for the photos: they do look vastly different from the first ones he sent us. The “first article we wrote as a response to Billy” identified these creatures as carpet beetle larva, and we still only had those photos, we’d still come to that conclusion. In the first photos Billy sent us, the creatures even looked brown, while in the new photos, they look black.

Now, there are indeed black carpet beetle larvae, and we might have suggested that these were black carpet beetle larvae, if it were not for Billy’s insistence that the bristles on the creature are not bristles at all, but legs. On top of that, he states that their “behaviour didn’t seem to make sense.” He doesn’t specify what he means by this, but we assume he means their behaviour doesn’t match that of carpet beetle larvae. So, if we assume the bristles are legs, then we have to assume these are some type of centipede, as that is the only worm-like creature we can think of that would have this many legs sprouting from the sides of its body.

Centipedes are predators, and they eat insects and worms. It could be that Billy’s home is too damp and cool, and that is what is attracting these creatures. To prevent centipede invasions, Billy will want to make sure to keep his home warm and dry. Likewise, he might want to check for invasions of any other bugs, as that could also attract centipedes if they are chasing prey.

Alternatively, these could be duff millipedes, which are a species of millipede that are often confused with carpet beetle larvae, which would be fitting in this context. Unlike centipedes, duff millipedes are not predators but are detritivores, and feed on decomposing organic materials like faeces, algae, and fungi. They are completely harmless.

To conclude, we are not entirely sure what these creatures are. We would still say they look like carpet beetle larvae, but since Billy insists that those appendages are legs, the only conclusion we can make is that they are either centipedes or duff millipedes. Though, given how stubby they are, we would say it is more likely that they are duff millipedes. In all honesty, we are not convinced that these are centipedes, and it would have been helpful to receive a video from Billy that shows us how they move. We wish Billy the very best!

Summary

Article Name

Black Bug with Many Legs Could be Duff Millipede

Description

"Really appreciate your response to my last question where you surmised, based on poor photos, that I had carpet beetle larvae/maggots", writes Billy in his submission regarding the spiky, black, worm-like critter pictured below. "However, I continue to have these random appearances from these creatures, and the behaviour didn’t seem to make sense. I’m attaching what I hope are better pictures, where you can see that these creatures have legs rather than bristles. As mentioned previously, they seem to appear in random places on the wall (high level) and ceiling but always gravitate towards bright areas of the room. I’d appreciate it if you can have a re-look at the attached. Thanks."

Author

Worm Researcher Anton