“Is this a worm?” asks Darlene in her submission regarding the thin, white worm-like organism pictured below. “And if so what kind? I find these in my car and they always look the same. I can wash my car completely and when I come back in they are on the dashboard. They’re very hard to see – either white or translucent. The only time you can really see them is on the black dashboard. I used a piece of tape to keep it intact.” Now, some extra context would have been super helpful here. Like, where is the car parked and does she leave the windows open? Are the worms found mangled, and that is why Darlene needed a piece of tape to keep them intact? Regardless, we will do our best to provide Darlene some info based on the different possible scenarios.

Provided that this is a worm — which we are not sure of to begin with — and provided that her car is usually parked outside, it could be that worms keep dropping from a tree or roof and climbing in through an open window. Even if Darlene keeps the windows shut, they could be coming in through the vents. And even if she does not park the car outside, a worm could have laid its eggs inside the vents, meaning that as they hatch, the new worms crawl into Darlene’s car, which would explain why she is finding so many of them consistently. She could look into getting her vents cleaned. Now, even if these worms were not mangled, we cannot promise that we would have been able to identify them, as the picture is somewhat blurry, and the worm in the photo has pretty nondescript features. But on top of that, Darlene implies that the worm was not whole, since she had to use a piece of tape to keep it intact. If this is the case, then it would be even harder for us to provide even an educated guess, as a mangled worm will not look like what it usually does.

If we had to venture a guess, we would say these are horsehair worms, also known as Gordian worms. These guys are parasites that infect insects (not humans, so do not worry!), and they are long and thin like the worms Darlene has found. That said, they are not translucent or hard to see like she suggests. On top of that, a car is likely the last place they would want to be, and they also typically do not congregate in groups. It is also possible that these are not worms, and Darlene is not sure if they are to begin with. If they are not worms, they could be some kind of debris that is coming through the vents. She could keep an eye out to see if these things are even moving at all. If not, it does not rule out the possibility that they are worms, as they could be drying out in the car. She could also use a pair of tweezers to try and pop the worms, to see if any fluids come out (we know, it is not the most pleasant thing you could be doing with your time). Additionally, she could take some of the worms to her local county extension office to have someone physically examine them.

In conclusion, we are not sure what these are, and we are not sure if they even are worms. Given their shape, our best guess is horsehair worms, but there are pieces of the story that do not fit together if these were horsehair worms. They could equally be something else that we have never encountered, or they might not be worms at all. We hope this helps, and we wish Darlene the very best.

Summary

Article Name

Stringy White Worms on Dashboard Might Not be Worms at All

Description

"Is this a worm?" asks Darlene in her submission regarding the thin, white worm-like organism pictured below. "And if so what kind? I find these in my car and they always look the same. I can wash my car completely and when I come back in they are on the dashboard. They’re very hard to see - either white or translucent. The only time you can really see them is on the black dashboard. I used a piece of tape to keep it intact." Now, some extra context would have been super helpful here. Like, where is the car parked and does she leave the windows open? Are the worms found mangled, and that is why Darlene needed a piece of tape to keep them intact? Regardless, we will do our best to provide Darlene some info based on the different possible scenarios.

Author

Worm Researcher Anton