New Zealand is famous for its glow worms that can be found across the country in caves, on the damp, overgrown banks of lakes and rivers and in forest undergrowth.
The “worms” are actually the larvae of a kind of fly known as a fungus gnat. Its tail glows with a blue-green light produced by an organ that performs a similar function to a human kidney.
The light is used to attract its prey into a snare of sticky threads, which can be seen in the video scattered across the roof of the cave.
The time lapse video above took several days to make, a process that is explained on this Canadian couple’s adventure blog.
Originally published by Cosmos as New Zealand’s famous glow worms
Bill Condie
Bill Condie is a science journalist based in Adelaide, Australia.
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