“What is this thin, small, brow/tan, almost greenish inch worm?” writes this reader about the worm-like organism pictured below. “Found it dangling off my cap on a some sort of thread I think, it moves pretty fast. From the US.” Thanks to our reader’s excellent photo and video, but mostly the fact that she names the organism herself, we can confirm that this is indeed an inchworm. Inchworms are any caterpillar of a group of moth species found in North America. They are all characterized by their number and placement of appendages: legs at the front and back, but not in the middle. Due to how the legs are positioned on the body, the inchworm moves as it does in the video: by reaching for something to grab onto with its prolegs, then arching its back while the hind legs catch up.

“I have tiny black worms that are crawling down a long web string”, reports this reader in Wollongong, Australia. “The string seems to be getting longer. It starts on my downlight and almost reaches the floor.”

“No one and I mean no one knows what they are”, states this reader about the ‘little flat thingie[s]’ he discovered hanging from his cottonwood trees. The picture below shows the organism on the flat of our reader’s finger, showing us how minuscule this creature is.

After finding several organisms that resemble “white shell[s]” hanging over her bed, this reader contacts us in the hope that we can help with this recurring issue. “Sadly”, our reader did not send any pictures, but she hopes nonetheless that we can identify the creatures and give some advice as to how she can ensure they do not reappear.

Silk is one of finest materials we have; its smooth, lavish fabric and considerable price make it a luxury item. However, the process of actually obtaining this silk comes at the expense of its creator, the silkworm. This article will briefly explore silkworms, what they are and how they work, and their exploitation in the fashion industry.

The other day we received a message from a reader who wants to know how to get rid of inchworms and silkworms, or how to get rid of “inch worms” and “silk worms,” as she has it. To call what we received a “message” is a bit misleading, however, since all we were sent was a mere sentence fragment composed almost entirely of capital letters. (Inexplicably, one instance of the word “worm” was written normally, but the rest was all caps.) We’ll try our best to answer our reader’s question, such as it is.

It is estimated that approximately 75 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year on silkworm farms. It takes more than 3,000 cocoons to make one pound of silk and more than 10 billion pounds of mulberry leaves to feed the silkworms that produce the silk.