Question
Worms
We have found a few flatworm-like creatures (4 in total). We found two one day and two a couple of days later. We find them at night on our tile kitchen floor. I have placed one in a ziplock bag and taken a picture. My worst fear is that they are parasites of some sort, but I don't know where they'd be coming from. I know you are an insect/arthropod expert, but I can't find someone who deals with worms. Maybe you can direct me to someone. The worm-like creature projects a think tubule-like structure from one of its ends to crawl/explore. It's surfaces look somewhat like dirt/sand. I have attached a picture of one that appears to be dead next to the live one. They are in a ziploc bag on top of a standard size coaster (to give you an idea of size). Please help!!
AnswerErin,
This is the larva of a type of casemaking clothes moth. There are several species. If you live in the southern US it could be the so called plaster bagworm. All of these insects feed on natural animal-based fibers (wool, dried skins, hair and so forth) and construct the case from fibers of cloth or bits of other debris. The larva lives inside the case. Other than the damage they do to natural products they are harmless.
Here's a link to pictures, life history and control of various clothes moths http://www.livingwithbugs.com/clothes_moth.html that may be useful. Compare your specimen to the picture near the middle of the page.
The best way to control clothes moths is to locate the source and clean it. I would caution against using "mothballs" as recent research indicates that the chemicals in mothballs are very toxic. Here's an article about mothballs http://www.livingwithbugs.com/mothball.html with a bit more detail.
Post a follow up if you have questions after looking over the pages cited above. You might also google "plaster bagworm" if you live in the southern US.
Jack DeAngelis, PhD
Extension Entomologist (ret.)
My website about home and garden pests: http://www.livingwithbugs.com
