“While sitting on the couch, I noticed there was something very tiny and dark moving on my arm”, writes Catherine in her submission, which unfortunately does not include a photo. “About the length of an eyelash and not much thicker. I could distinguish a small head and it was moving around like a caterpillar. The more prominent head and movement makes me think of a larva. After hours of internet searching, the closest comparison I found was that it looks like a dark, micro-sized moth larva. After finding the one, I noticed three more on my other arm. That’s when I ran for the shower. I shook my hair over the sink and nothing. I did find a dead one on the shower wall after rinsing myself.

“I saw you have an article about the little black worms/caterpillars with long thread silk and I have a video of what I think is the same thing”, writes Alicia regarding the minuscule, black organism pictured below. “Could you please tell me how to get rid of them and what they are? I am in Perth.” We are not sure what article Alicia refers to, but regardless, we have identified this as an inchworm. The video gives it away: inchworms have a unique way of moving around which is a product of their anatomy. Inchworms have prolegs and rear legs, but not legs in the middle of their body. For that reason, the middle of their back arches as they ‘inch’ forward. They will also typically lift their entire front body (like in the video) and swivel it around as they try to redirect themselves.