“I found this small worm on the kitchen counter”, writes Joseph in his submission regarding the brown, segmented, worm-like creature pictured below. “It’s possible it came from a box that was brought up from the basement. It moves slowly, has a couple of pairs of legs near the head, and reacts very fast if you touch it. I live in Connecticut.” Based on the excellent photo Joseph sent us (for which we thank him), we would say that the critter he found is a darkling beetle larva. The most ‘popular’ darkling beetle larva is the mealworm, which we thought this could be at first (and which it might still be), but there are actually many species of darkling beetles, and this could be one of them.

The darkling beetle larva that we felt most resembled the one Joseph found is the superworm, a rather exciting and fun name for an insect larva. Like mealworms, superworms are often the fodder for people’s reptilian and amphibian pets, due to their high concentration of fats and proteins (which is what gives them their names, besides their large size). Superworms are endemic to Central and South America, but are now found all over the world, due to all the ways most animals end up in other regions: trading. Ideally, superworms choose to live in dark and damp places rich in decaying organic materials. Like mealworms, their diet is pretty broad: you can feed them fruits, grains, leaves, bark, and even chicken. The fact that Joseph found this creature in his kitchen does not necessarily mean that there is decaying organic matter in there (though it is always important to clean out foods before they go bad for this very reason), but it could mean that there is food that is not properly stored.

The best advice we can offer Joseph is that he properly cleans his kitchen, and stores any dried food products in airtight containers. Other than mealworms and superworms, there are other pests that would want to invade his kitchen to feed on items like these, such as pantry moth caterpillars and carpet beetles. When it comes to the superworm he found, we suggest simply moving it outside. It will have plenty to feed on there. Since Joseph only found the one worm, then it is possible that it simply wandered into his home. He mentions that it may have come up on a box from the basement, which is also possible. He might want to check his basement in that case for more superworms, or for beetles, just in case it was actually a beetle that originally wandered in and laid eggs in the basement. If that was the case, Joseph could have a potential infestation on his hands. If that turns out to be the case, we recommend cleaning out those worms from the basement, and vacuuming the entire basement for any other critters and eggs.

To conclude, we think that the segmented, brown worm Joseph found on his kitchen counter is a superworm. They are not harmful to humans or pets, so Joseph needs not worry on that front. They can infest the pantry though and start feeding on the food and render it inedible, so they should be moved outside. We hope this helps, and we wish Joseph the very best!

Summary

Article Name

Segmented Brown Worm on Kitchen Counter is a Superworm

Description

"I found this small worm on the kitchen counter", writes Joseph in his submission regarding the brown, segmented, worm-like creature pictured below. "It’s possible it came from a box that was brought up from the basement. It moves slowly, has a couple of pairs of legs near the head, and reacts very fast if you touch it. I live in Connecticut." Based on the excellent photo Joseph sent us (for which we thank him), we would say that the critter he found is a darkling beetle larva. The most 'popular' darkling beetle larva is the mealworm, which we thought this could be at first (and which it might still be), but there are actually many species of darkling beetles, and this could be one of them.

Author

Worm Researcher Anton