“After sweeping my floors, I noticed a lot of black dirt under my cat’s scratching pads. As I stared at it, I noticed it was moving (wiggling)”, writes Rebecca in her submission. “They are very tiny, black in color, and have no legs. You would think it’s just dirt. It’s not just one, there are many. I feel that they are larvae of some type. What are they? Unfortunately I did not take a picture.” In response to that last sentence, it will be very difficult to identify these organisms based purely on this context; tiny, black worms are not very rare, and this description matches a lot of species of worms and worm-like creatures. Additionally, although Rebecca does not tell us if her cat is an outdoor cat, seeing as she first thought the worms were dirt, we assume it is. That broadens the possibilities of these creatures’ identity further, as we would assume these are worms that the cat accidentally brought in from outside.

“Is this a flea larva?” asks this reader about the array of worm-like critters pictured below. She does not include any more context, and the photo is quite blurry, so it will not be possible for us to give her a straight answer that is 100% certain or accurate. Of course, we will still do the best we can. Now, we assume that although she refers to a larva in the singular, she is actually referring to all of the organisms pictured below. If not, then we do not know which one she is referring to and wondering if it is a flea larva. But, since the organisms all look similar, we feel safe in assuming she is referring to them all. If that is not the case, she is welcome to let us know and resubmit a new photo with the one particular critter she is wondering about.

“Do you have any idea what this could possibly be?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the minuscule, translucent, brown creature pictured below. “Watching it, it moves like a caterpillar or worm and will either stand up or put one side up and wiggle into the air. Thanks so much!” First of all, we have to point out the size of the creature. As we can see from the photo, it is very tiny. That tells us that this organism is probably at an early stage of maturation, which means a lot of its defining physical characteristics will not have developed yet. For that reason, whatever identification we end up making is not 100% certain. Secondly, the lack of context also makes it harder for us to say it is any one species for certain.

“I found these worms in our towel closet in the restroom”, writes this reader about the near-transparent, worm-like creature pictured below. “I then washed all of the linens and towels that were in the closet and sprayed down the whole closet. Looking for the source of the worms. So far I have not found that source but I have identified a couple of things that I believe to be eggs. I also then found the same worms coming from the seam of my dresser, and I have not looked anywhere else yet, but I would like some help please thank you.”

“I’ve found this transparent worm in my terrarium after two months of setting it up”, writes Thomas about the near-transparent, worm-like creature pictured below. “It’s a closed terrarium and I sometimes open the lid for ventilation because of fog buildup. I’m living in Hong Kong and at the time of discovering this worm, it was winter, with temperatures around 12°C to 20°C. The worm appears to have a black head and is not moving at all. It measures around 1 to 1.5cm in length. Is this worm harmful to my plants? Why does it suddenly appear in my terrarium? The plants I used are all free from pests as they come from nurseries. Thank you.”

“I found thin, white-colored worms in my garden”, writes Bree in her submission. “They were about an inch long, hanging upside down from my planter boxes and wiggling around. They did not appear to be hanging by any thread and it had rained a lot today if that helps.” Now, we have to say that we cannot actually see the worms Bree is talking about in the photos. We do not know if she means the thin, white, long objects littered across the soil in the photo, though those look like twigs, but since they were meant to only be an inch long, we assume she doesn’t mean these.

“What are these?” is all Judah asks in his submission regarding the translucent worm-like creatures pictured below. The creatures seem to have black heads and a dark stripe on their bodies, which, given their translucent skin, appears to be their entrails. Even though Judah does not provide any context along with his photo, which is usually essential to us narrowing down a given creature’s possible identities, we are able to identify these critters based on their appearance. We think these are fungus gnat larvae.

“I found these worms in my isopod terrarium”, writes Cynthia about the translucent worm-like creature pictured below. “I have been searching but am unable to find out what worm it is. Would be grateful for some help! The worms are less than 5mm long and this is the clearest photo I could get. The white part is the head and all of them are coloured this way. They are too small for my eyes to see if they are segmented or not. They seem to gravitate towards damp areas in the terrarium. I live in Singapore, which is a warm and humid place. Any ideas?” To begin with, we want to point out how cool it is that Cynthia has an isopod terrarium: it’s not everyday you hear that, and we appreciate her appreciation of such critters.

“What the heck is this?” asks this reader in his submission regarding the long line of worm-like creatures crawling on top of each other in the picture below. “I found them on an outdoor rug in the morning in Northern Virginia. What our reader found on his rug is what is referred to as a ‘fungus gnat snake’. Clearly, this is not an actual snake, but it is a horde of fungus gnat larvae. These are the youngest form of the fungus gnat, which is a species of fly that, like most species of flies, feeds on rotting organic matter, as do their larvae. They can usually be found in compost bins when the matter inside has been left for a significant amount of time to rot.

“What kind of worm moves together in a braided type circle?” asks this reader in her submission concerning the horde of worms pictured below. “This was found on my driveway in North Myrtle Beach, SC.” We have to say, this is one of the most fascinating submissions we have received from a reader. Especially when looking at the video she sent in (linked below), which shows how the worms writhe and slither over each other in this circle. The act of going round and round in circles is odd, but the pile-up of worms is not for this species of fly, namely the fungus gnat (or ‘sciarid fly’).

“I found this worm while eating my salad from a restaurant”, writes this reader in their submission regarding the translucent worm pictured below. It appears to have visible entrails, a dark head, and a bubble of sorts at its rear. “Can you please tell me anything about it? I’m so worried I’m sick! It’s almost an inch long. Thank you!” Based on our reader’s story, as well as the photo, we have concluded that these are likely fungus gnat larvae. As their name suggests, fungus gnats like to feed on fungi, but they also like other plants as well, in particular young plants.

A reader wrote us a somewhat frantic email recently about what appears to be large, snake-like grouping of fungus gnat larvae. She emphasized how “gross” the gnat larvae were, an understandable reaction, and highlighted the urgency of her identification request by using two question marks. We have already answered her identification question, so we could leave the matter here, but we’ll provide a little more information about fungus gnat larvae below, as well as link to previous articles that we have written about them.

We received an excellent photo a while ago of what a reader described as two large groupings – or “packs” – of small white worms or larvae that were formed in lines. Since we are pretty certain she found fungus gnat larvae, or more specifically what are sometimes called “fungus gnat larvae snakes,” we will refer to them only as “small white larvae,” and not hedge by writing “small white larvae or worms.” The reader found the lines of white larvae – or we suppose they are actually more like see-through larvae with black heads – on her concrete patio, and was merely wondering what they are. As we said above, they look like gnat fly larvae, so the reader’s question has technically already been answered, but below we provide a little more information about these strange configurations of creations. What exactly are fungus gnat larvae, and why do they group together to form “snakes.”