What are these?
May 28, 2009
Found two clumps of hundreds of these creatures outside on my patio, all moving together in the same general direction. They’re slimy, slippery…almost slug-like, but appear to be larvae of some sort.
Eric
Charlotte, North Carolina
Fungus Gnat Larvae Aggregation
Hi Eric,
We apologize for the lengthy delay. We are trying to respond to some of our long overdue unanswered requests. These are Fungus Gnat Larvae. The Hydro Gardens website has some information. You can also see a matching photo from Alaska on the Social Caterpillar website of Cortland faculty. BugGuide also has a posting discussing the aggregations of the larvae of Dark Winged Fungus Gnats in the family Sciaridae.
Fungus Gnat Larvae Aggregation
I like This
I too have just witnessed this occurrence for the last two days, early in the morning. The masses of worms moving in a group and after speaking with NC agriculture people have been told the same – Fungus Knat Larve = Gross….. I had at least 8 to 10 clusters of these worms – couldn’t kill them all the 1st day with “Home Defense” spray. Second day I tried household cleaner – Tilex and that worked. These masses were at the edge of my grass and sidewalk or grass and concrete driveway. I have never witnessed anything like this.
Thanks for you help in identifying these things….