Posted by Sheila Hartline on August 9, 2008

Q: This was curled in a slightly flattened, tight, multiple S shape like ribbon candy on top of a brick that had been covered by plastic for 3 or 4 weeks. It looked so much like some sort of "caulk" or "glue/mortar" left behind on the brick that it was a huge shock to realize it was a some sort of gigantic worm or slug.

Actually my first thought was "snake", but the little creature has moist skin like an earthworm or slug. The very dark brown/black head doesn't show up in the pics because it had already started to move away by the time I got back with a camera. Its about a foot long and the almost black head is flat and rounded like a half moon. I would appreciate an identification so that I can search for more information.

State: Texas

Habitat: suburban/yard

A: I've looked and looked at your photos but can't quite tell what you have there. At first it did look very "slugish" to me but that would be an awfully long and skinny slug and I don't know of one like that. I'm leaning much more toward a worm though.

If it is a worm, it should have a series of rings all along its body - a slug would not have these. Can you remember whether there were rings along its body length? Worms can stretch out rather long at times and maybe this is what happened here, making your animal look especially large. Hope you'll get back to me if you have more information or see it again. Thanks for sharing your mystery animal, only wish I could have nailed it for you.

John Wiessinger ( August 11, 2008)

A: It looks like what you have there is a shovel-headed garden worm (Bipalium kewense). The same kind of worm first appeared in my garden 16 years ago and I have seen them periodically ever since. They probably arrived in my garden attached to strawberry plants I purchased from a mail order nursery.

The worms are native to southeast Asia, and were first described by science when found in the hothouses at Kew Gardens in England. They now turn up regularly in North American gardens, and it is no surprise that they would get quite large in your Texas location.

The thing you should know about them, other than that they are a very odd-looking and interesting terrestrial flatworm, is that they are carnivorous, favoring a diet of earthworms. Therefore you should probably regard them as pests.

Mark Baldwin ( August 11, 2008)