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glow worms

Arachnocampa luminosa

Description:

Glow-worms make sticky silk threads which hang like fishing lines. Small flying insects are attracted to the light of a glow-worm, and get caught in the threads. The glow-worm pulls in the thread with its mouth and eats the insect. In the bush the lines are 1–2 centimetres long. In caves, where there is no wind to tangle the threads, the lines may be up to half a metre long. A large glow-worm larva may have as many as 70 lines.

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49 Comments (1–25)

zhabiz
zhabiz 10 years ago

They look like some species from the movie "Avatar"!

dotun55
dotun55 10 years ago

I see. Interessante!

JulieEdwards
JulieEdwards 10 years ago

@ dotun55 the worms are on horizontal threads to the vertical drops. They are transparent so very difficult to see! No they are not the larvae of fireflies. There is a link attached to this spotting for more information on these fascinating creatures

Mona Pirih
Mona Pirih 10 years ago

Awesome

dotun55
dotun55 10 years ago

Wonderful! Where are the larvae themselves and are they larvae of fireflies?

JulieEdwards
JulieEdwards 10 years ago

I took these pics with my little Canon ixus camera :) I was very lucky it was a still day as the slightest breath of wind makes them move. I've tried to take more photos recently but never had the success I had with these shots!

4D4Gprojectnoah
4D4Gprojectnoah 10 years ago

how did you get an amazing picture of a glow worms webs?

Caleb Steindel
Caleb Steindel 10 years ago

awesome series

VivBraznell
VivBraznell 10 years ago

How fascinating! Great set of pics

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 11 years ago

Oh no.. totally missed this! Congrats Julie. Beautiful spotting.

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 11 years ago

Such an interesting subject! Congratulations on Spotting of the Day! Wonderful.

Atul
Atul 11 years ago

wonderful spotting ! congratulations :)

mauna Kunzah
mauna Kunzah 11 years ago

Wow.

LeanneGardner
LeanneGardner 11 years ago

Wow! Congrats on your fabulous spotting Julie!

Liam
Liam 11 years ago

Stunning! Congratulations!

Julie SOTD,great congrats :)

namitha
namitha 11 years ago

Congratulations JulieEdwards on the SOTD. Really cool spotting. It looks like a string of beads, very pretty.

tibiprada
tibiprada 11 years ago

Excellent.. congrats !

ForestDragon
ForestDragon 11 years ago

Wow! This is so interesting! Congratulations on the SOTD, well deserved. It looks like something out of a fantasy movie.

Ashish Nimkar
Ashish Nimkar 11 years ago

Thanks a lot for a real lesson... Julie...!!

Fyn  Kynd
Fyn Kynd 11 years ago

Nice!

CarolSnowMilne
CarolSnowMilne 11 years ago

WOW! I never knew anything about this. Thanks! Awesome spot and congratulations!

Adarsha B S
Adarsha B S 11 years ago

Wow...unbelievable..First time seen like this...love to see it in real...Congrats...

Maria dB
Maria dB 11 years ago

Congratulations - cool spotting. Especially like the fifth photo

lynne.warren
lynne.warren 11 years ago

Congratulations! I'd love to see this in person

JulieEdwards
Spotted by
JulieEdwards

Ngātīmoti, Tasman, New Zealand

Spotted on Jan 1, 2012
Submitted on Jan 12, 2012

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