On my windowsill (on the inside of the room) this morning were a few dozen tiny black worms, about 2-3mm long. They move like caterpillars. Most of them are in a group by the windowsill, but some of them have climbed to the top of my curtain (about a metre high) and some of them have climbed to the bottom of my towel which is drying on the radiator (about a metre down). They appear to be able to secrete some kind of silk, for some of them dangle from the curtain seemingly in mid-air. I do not know what they are. Can you help me with this? What are they? Are they dangerous? Should I spray them with something poisonous? Are they likely to be carrying any kind of disease transmissible to humans? I suppose they may be the larval form of something. A picture: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Are they webworms (species of catepillar)? I'm thinking----maybe they are young webworms http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/
They're definitely spaceworms. They are probably immune to all known forms of poison, as well as most unknown ones. Attempting to disturb them in any way will probably cause them to burst dramatically out of your stomach sometime in the near future. I recommend spraying them with poison or something.
They look like a type of caterpillar that comes out of its web during March in Cyprus, hence the common name of Martouthia (of March). If they are hairy, then it's likely that they're similar... don't touch them because they sting.
I'm in the UK, and I don't think they are those poisonous hairy caterpillars becaue... they are not hair. At any rate, they've mostly gone now.
I use to see alot of them dangling from tree's back when I was a kid. I wouldn't be suprised if they are actually a moth larvae.
Could be the larvae of a carpet beatle? We used to have carpet beetles in our house. They still show up from time to time. They looked similar, but they were more brown.
"Strange black worms on my windowsill" Sounds like a Beatles lyric from the flower power era. They might well be some kind of Beatle. They are definitely what scientists call "creepy crawlies" and should not be allowed in the house. They may be disposed of humanely by shooing them onto a piece of paper taking care not to crush them, then going out into your garden and shaking the paper until they fall off. Correction. (I've just read the bit about them attacking trees) Shake them over the fence into your neighbour's garden.
Why is it that we humans always want to kill everything we don't understand? I'll never understand why that is about us. :shrug: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I must point out at this stage that the OP is 2 years old. I've been doing a search looking for any threads on Heather Mills, the ex wife of Beatle Paul, and a search for Beatle uncovered this gem from the past. Due to a spelling mistake, Beatle for beetle. Nothing on Heather for either search. The august memers of sf are probably ignoring the annoying beatle hater. Still. It was in April 2006 that the strange black creatures first appeared. Perhaps they will soon return. Look out for them sciforumers!
Poor Communist Hamster........he's probably no more than a cobweb-covered skeleton now. His outstretched skeletal arm still reaching towards the windowsill where they were crawling. If only we'd have known they were deadly flesh eating worms, we could have warned him.
