“When I tried to decapitate it with my thumbnail, it appeared to curl like a scorpion and a tiny stinger appeared on the tail!” exclaims this reader in his submission regarding an organism of a “dark color” he found. “What could it be?”

He attaches no pictures to his submission, but mentions that the organism is “3/8-inch to 1/2-inch in length”, is a “dark color”, and has “two feelers” on its head.

Now, without pictures, it will be impossible for us to give an identification of this worm with 100% certainty. However, given the description that our reader gave, we would guess that this is a centipede.

Centipedes are arthropods, which means that they are organisms with segmented bodies, with legs that join at each segment, and they have a hard exoskeleton that protects them. In addition to this, they are carnivorous. There are over 8000 species of them, and their name translates from Latin into ‘one hundred feet’, though most species do not have that many legs. Centipedes are not to be confused with millipedes, and the main difference between them is that the legs of a centipede grow from the sides of their bodies, whilst a millipede’s grows from its underside.

Despite being dangerous to the prey that centipedes hunt (mites, larvae, and insects), most species of centipedes that one would find at home pose no real threat to humans. The most they can do is sting you with their pincer-like appendages called forcipules. Using these forcipules, they can inject venom into your skin which will likely cause temporary stinging and/or irritation. As such, it is best to avoid picking up a centipede with one’s bare hands.

In any case, catching a centipede can prove very challenging, as they are very fast when they want to be. We recommend wearing gardening gloves and using a dustpan if and when moving a centipede outside (which is what we suggest our reader do).

Additionally, centipedes also tend to have forked tails: we think these are the “stinger[s]” that our reader saw. As far as we know, these have no real purpose other than to scare away predators.

To conclude, we think that the organism our reader found is a centipede, though we are not 100% certain of this, given the lack of photos. Nonetheless, we hope this article proves helpful, and we wish him the very best!

Summary

Article Name

Dark-colored Worm with Stinger and Feelers is Likely a Centipede

Description

"When I tried to decapitate it with my thumbnail, it appeared to curl like a scorpion and a tiny stinger appeared on the tail!" exclaims this reader in his submission regarding an organism of a "dark color" he found. "What could it be?"

Author

Worm Researcher Anton