Millipede in Garden
Continue Reading
Posted in Caterpillars Interesting Worms

Worms that Shed and Smell Bad

We received a very short question a while back about worms that smell bad and shed their skin. More precisely, we were asked “what kind of earthworm sheds its tail and sprays a strong smell in defense?” So, the reader is wondering about earthworms specifically (or technically the tail of earthworms) that produce some sort of odor in self-defense. Regardless of our reader’s interests, though, we suspect he is misusing the word “earthworm.” For reasons we will spell out below, he seems to be describing a millipede, or potentially some type of caterpillar, both of which molt (shed) and can smell bad.