# ID help, white worm doesn't look like normal nemertean



## gaspitsgaspard (Sep 18, 2019)

http://imgur.com/gallery/BSCwm0i

As the title suggests, I caught this guy in my Viv yesterday and have since scoured the internet on nemerteans. This one looks a little different than the pictures I've seen and am thinking it looks more like a white worm. I was unfortunate in not being able to see the head.

My springtail population is still booming and there are still a lot of fruit flies left in the viv each morning(I feed in the evening).


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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

Greetings,

Nemerteans are _*extremely rare*_ viv pests - I don't think there is a single instance on DB of a frog viv that actually had nemerteans. Instead, these vivs have a terrestrial planarian - usually Rynchodemus sp.

Your worm looks like a fly larva - harmless and, potentially, frog food.


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## gaspitsgaspard (Sep 18, 2019)

My only question then is does fly larva normally get this large? This guy was half buried in the substrate and the visible portion was roughly 3/4 inches or so


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

Not a fruit fly larvae

most likely a 'soil worm' of some kind. Won't harm frogs

no worries.


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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

Greetings,

This isn't a _fruit_ fly larva - there are many kinds of flies. This one might be the larva of a "winter crane fly" (family Trichoceridae).

I have these in my tanks - they grow in the muck layer that builds-up on my wettest pieces of wood. They hatch into flies that look like a giant fungus gnat or a small crane fly.

It could also be an annelid (a "true" worm - not a larva of an arthropod). The color seems more like what I would expect from a fly larva but there are pale annelids, too.

Still: Harmless and, if you keep larger frogs or other critters, possible food.


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## gaspitsgaspard (Sep 18, 2019)

All of this is so relieving. I was fearing for the life of my viv after reading about the dreaded nemertean worm. I honestly had no idea some fly larva could get this long!

I've got some Baja California tree frogs so they'll be happy with the food diversity


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