What the hell is THAT? Shopper stunned to find huge ‘monster worm’ is actually HUNDREDS of insect larvae working as one
- Tori Silveira spotted a writhing black mass on her way to the supermarket
- Up close there are a multitude of worm-like insects clustered together
- London Zoo’s entomology expert Dave Clarke believe they are sawfly larvae
- He said: ‘They gain more protection by moving as a group when looking for food’
A shopper was stunned when she spotted a huge black ‘monster worm’ squirming on the pavement.
Tori Silveira, 23, saw the writhing mass while on her way the supermarket near her home in Santa Catarina, Brazil and captured a short clip of them moving together.
The bizarre sight was actually hundreds of worm-like insects, clustered together behaving as one.
Tori Silveira, 23, spotted a black writhing mass on the pavement while on her way the supermarket near her home in Santa Catarina, Brazil and captured a short clip of them moving together
From a distance, the bugs appear to be one – but up close it’s clear there are a multitude individuals moving in unison.
Ms Silveira said: ‘I was on my way to the supermarket near my house when I noticed this large black mass on the sidewalk that I was on.’
‘I leaned in to get a better look and saw that it was a bunch of little bugs that I had never seen before around here.
Ms Silveira described the scene as hundreds of long, black worm-like bugs with ‘tiny legs crawling on top of each other’ and slowly moving, ‘as if they’re migrating to a new area together.’
The bizarre sight was actually hundreds of worm-like insects, clustered together behaving as one. She said the black worm-like bugs had ‘tiny legs crawling on top of each other’ and slowly moving, ‘as if they’re migrating to a new area together’
‘I’m still not entirely sure what kind of bug they are, some say caterpillar, others say wasp larvae etc. It’s very confusing to me,’ she added.
Dave Clarke, an entomology expert from London Zoo, and his team examined the footage and believe the insects are sawfly larvae.
He said: ‘They gain more protection by moving as a group when looking for food.’
‘They may have been changing nest position – which would explain them being on the ground, and may be huddling together as a defensive reaction.
‘They’re not aggressive – just trying to protect themselves.’
Dave Clarke, an entomology expert from London Zoo, believes the insects are sawfly larvae. He said: ‘They gain more protection by moving as a group when looking for food’
‘As with all videos, we can’t guarantee this is what they are as they’re not directly in front of us to check, but this is what the invertebrate team here at ZSL believe.’
Sawflies are found all over the world, with the largest family of them present on every continent except Antarctica.
Females can lay up to 90 eggs at a time and the adult insect typically lives for seven to nine days.