Saw these tiny green worms dancing on the Mountain Bluet during a rain shower several weeks ago.
I haven't seen them since, but I'm real curious to find any info on them.
They are better seen in the shaky video I took:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZk1vjr2-5w
So what are these strange things?
contact, I don't know what those worms are, but the video was neat, it looked like they were dancing to the music.
They look like mycorrhizae. But I've only seen them close to or in the ground when you dig close to roots.
I think you mean nematodes? - mycorrhyzae are fungi associated with roots, not capable of the kind of locomotion in the video.
Yep! nematodes.
Thanks all.
Ironic that I couldn't recognize one of the most ubiqutous creatures on this planet.
In my mind nematodes are microscopic and hidden in dirt or debris.
Seems some species are larger than I imagined, and like to party in the open!
How cool is that ! Video and music ! This is so nerdy but I have to say that your link was my first visit to YouTube. Thanks for the entertainment!
I think that these may not be Nematodes, but hair worms from the phylum Nematomorpha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematomorpha
http://www.earthlife.net/inverts/nematomorpha.html
Can horsehair worms survive in this environment? I thought they lived in water, or the body of a host - usually a cricket, grasshopper, or beetle...?
That is one awesome video, Contact. I've never seen anything like it!
Caught the little buggers dancin' again. Almost exactly a year later. Just after/before a rain.
Got this one on video before the mosquitoes chased us away:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AjIWFMDUho
These more likely are mermithid nematodes than nematomorphans, as to the best of my knowledge, adult nematomorphans will only emerge in water, whereas there are soil-dwelling terrestrial mermithids. You might try googling "cabbage snake" for an interesting example.
