Also known as “white grubs” or “white grub worms,” grub worms are the larvae of scarab beetles. White grub worms are either white or gray, with a dark posterior abdomen and a brown head. Their longish wormlike bodies curl into C-shape. If you see a grub worm or several grub worms writhing around on your lawn, don’t panic. Grub worms are quite harmless to humans. Continue reading [...]…

A certain, cute critter has recently taken the internet by storm with its ridiculously adorable appearance that has people all over the world going 'awww' at just the sight of it. This article is going to provide a brief introduction to the Japanese emperor butterfly caterpillar and explain what it is about the caterpillar that so many find appealing. Continue reading [...]…

"What are the little black maggot-looking larvae that are in creeks?" asks Crystal in her submission. "They live under leaves and they are only in creeks once a year. I used to fish with them but I don't know what they are." Crystal does not attach any photos to her submission, which makes it much harder to narrow down the list of suspects for this creature that Crystal is searching for. Unfortunately, there are a lot of worm-like creatures that fit Crystal's description. They could be anything from millipedes to rosemary beetle larvae to leeches. With that said, we have tried to narrow down our educated guesses to two species that are more "maggot-looking" than the others, and which tend to live near creeks and streams. Continue reading [...]…

What are California Blackworms? California blackworms (Lumbriculus variegatus), are an aquatic worm used as fish food and can be purchased at many pet stores that sell fish and aquarium supplies. Mature blackworms are usually composed of about 150-250 segments. They are hermaphroditic, meaning, they contain both male and female sex organs. Sexual reproduction, presumed to be rare, involves direct embryonic development within a cocoon. Asexual reproduction by self-fragmentation is common. In a laboratory or home setting, this seems to be the blackworm's only means of reproduction. Blackworms move by means of circular and longitudinal muscle contractions acting on the worm's hydrostatic internal skeleton (the fluid-filled body cavity or coelom) in each of its many segments. Blackworms Continue reading [...]…

Every gardener has seen worms and larvae living alongside their plants. Unfortunately, most gardeners have also had to deal with the little critters eating those same plants. However, very few of us have seen worms that plant their own gardens. That is exactly what a research team headed by Zhenchang Zhu discovered when studying the ragworm (Hediste diversicolor). They described their findings in the December, 2016 article entitled Sprouting as a Gardening Strategy to Obtain Superior Supplementary Food: Evidence from a Seed-Caching Marine Worm that was published in the journal Ecology. Ragworms live in the ocean and have been previously admired for their effective food gathering methods. While remaining safe in their dens, ragworms spread webs made of mucus across the dens’ openings. Continue reading [...]…

We just heard from a reader who discovered hundreds of small red worms wiggling in the bottom of his chickens’ large water bowl. He wonders what kind of worm they are. Continue reading [...]…

Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus giganteus) are found on coral reefs in tropical waters around the world. Christmas tree worms are not dangerous to humans and both male and female Christmas tree worms exist. They reproduce by casting their eggs and sperm directly into the water. The eggs are fertilized in the water then develop into larvae that settle on coral heads and burrow into the coral. Christmas tree worms can be quite pleasing to the eye. It is Christmas tree-shaped with dazzling twin spirals of plumes used for feeding and respiration. This serpulid tube-dwelling worm is one of the most widely recognized sedentary polychaete worms in the world. The cone-shaped worm comes in many colors including orange, yellow, blue, and white. With an average 3.8 cm in span, Christmas tree worms Continue reading [...]…

A reader wrote to us curious about a worm she found in the toilet of her guest bathroom. She mentioned it had antennas and looked similar to a millipede or centipede, having a brown striped body. From the picture, we believe the creature is 2-3 inches in length. Our reader is curious if this worm is a problem, and if she should inform the person that last used her bathroom. Continue reading [...]…

We received a reader question a while back about a brown worm that he found. The worm was thick, and about five centimeters long. Although the worm (or caterpillar, as we shall see) was primarily brown, it had a little red on its underside. Most notably, the worm's exterior looked like a bottlebrush shrub ("bottlebrushes" is an informal term that refers to the shrub species that belong to the Callistemon genus). Not surprisingly, bottlebrushes resemble bottle brushes, which basically look like toilet cleaning brushes, with all the stiff bristles. This is a long way of saying that the worm our reader found had a lot of spiky bristles on it. Since the reader found the worm on his daughter's bed, he was wondering if the worm was dangerous to children, and also where the worms tend to live. Continue reading [...]…

We just heard from a reader in Germany! She found some creatures on her ceiling, and is interested in learning more about them. Continue reading [...]…

A reader just asked to identify a creature that she found on her toilet seat. She is a little up in arms about it because she has two young children and hopes it isn’t harmful. The photo shows a very tiny brown worm-like organism. It has the same proportions as a tic tac, but is a bit smaller, and it looks like it might have antenna, but we cannot tell for certain. What could this be? Continue reading [...]…

We just got sent a video of a 3 inch long, red creature wiggling around in the water of a toilet bowl. The sender wants to know if this is an earthworm or a parasitic worm. She knows it doesn’t resemble a pinworm or tapeworm (which are parasitic) and notes that it was discovered in a clean toilet, not after a bowel movement. Continue reading [...]…

A reader from Texas wrote to us recently about some "hairlike worms" he is finding on the sidewalk after it rains. The hairlike worms (or hair-like worms - both are correct) are six inches to nine inches in length, which is long given their incredibly thin bodies. The reader wants to know what the hairlike worms are, and we are virtually certain we know the answer: horsehair worms. We suppose we could stop here, having unraveled the hairlike worm mystery, but below we'll provide some information about and pictures of horsehair worms to round out the article. Continue reading [...]…

We received a very short question a while back about worms that smell bad and shed their skin. More precisely, we were asked "what kind of earthworm sheds its tail and sprays a strong smell in defense?" So, the reader is wondering about earthworms specifically (or technically the tail of earthworms) that produce some sort of odor in self-defense. Regardless of our reader's interests, though, we suspect he is misusing the word "earthworm." For reasons we will spell out below, he seems to be describing a millipede, or potentially some type of caterpillar, both of which molt (shed) and can smell bad. Continue reading [...]…

If you’re interested in downloading songs by Arrogant Worms, you’re in luck. Amazon.com offers several dozen Arrogant Worm songs for around $.99 each. You can also buy Arrogant Worm CD’s at Amazon.com or you can purchase them from Maplemusic.com. Continue reading [...]…

Centipedes have flattened bodies and a pair of long, slender antennae. They also have a pair of claws just behind the head. Millipedes and centipedes have segmented bodies, but millipedes have short antennae. Continue reading [...]…

A reader recently sent a picture to us of two worm-like creatures that she found in her carpet in her home. Because of the two pairs of legs per body segment, it is very possible that these creatures are millipedes. Continue reading [...]…

We recently received a couple of great photos of a brown caterpillar (or rather a brownish, tan caterpillar) from a reader. The reader correctly assumed he had found a caterpillar (as opposed to a worm, which is what many people who find caterpillars assume them to be), and he was wondering what kind of caterpillar he might have found. It has dark stripes on its body and what appear to be large eyes. We can't be sure how big it is because there is no scale in the picture other than a leaf (which we also don't know the size of), but we would guess it's around an inch or so in length (most caterpillars are around this size). So, what is this brown, striped caterpillar? Continue reading [...]…

According to the Cornell Waste Management Institute of the famed Cornell University, worms do not bite. In fact, in nature wax worms do not feed on anything but pollen, honey, cocoons, and beeswax. Wax worm breeders have no problems feeding their inventory of wax worms without the help of pollen and cocoons. These squirmy little creatures can also survive off of an artificial diet of a mixture of dog food, water, and honey or a mixture of Gerber's mixed cereal, glycerin, honey, and water. Continue reading [...]…

Worms prefer complete darkness because the light affects them in the worst way. Light does not kill worms, but if worms spend too much time in the light (typically one hour), they become paralyzed. Continue reading [...]…