Drafts

Observing 1/26/18
• Somewhat transparent exterior with a yellow/ tan tint
• Short cylindrical body with long thin tail at end, tail is rigid, approximately the length of the body and a third, black tip that is not covered by transparent exterior
• Moves in one direction in fashion of inch worm, approximately seven sets of feet/ grips
• Can see the head (front) is a darker color, seems to have some type of opening that is exposed when elongated (possible mouth)
• There is also a darker section at the back that extends through the tail
• The middle of the specimen appears to be white, but it does not seem to one piece of material, but possibly separate strands (two lines that run along the back and a more serpentine pattern on the bottom)
• There are black specks covering this white portion of the body
• Constantly moving, often around the edges of the dish, going up sides when able to
• When it reaches up the side it seems to hesitate with head in air (possibly its major sensory location)
• Occasionally flips itself over, but has no trouble correcting itself
• Has remnants of previous space, shavings of some type, possibly normal habitat is underground or someplace where it can burrow
• Tail doesn’t seem to serve immediate purpose, possible stinger, stability support, slightly flexible, possible it helps move through habitat
• Started to learn sides of dish, almost escaped once and continuously tried the same thing, no longer went around the sides, but went straight to edge
• Is this its final state or this a pupal stage?
• What is its ideal habitat?
• What does it eat?
• Is it used to being in an environment with light?
• What is function of tail?
• Is it in the same family to an inch worm?

• Body is 14mm when resting (extended), constricts down to 11mm
• Tail is about 17mm, the black tip accounting for just under 1mm
• 21mm in total length
• Approximately 3mm in width

With initial observation of this organism, you can see that she has a tail that is larger than his main body, she has the movement style of a worm as oppose to a snake where she shrinks and extends forward. Similar characteristics as a worm, besides tail. Has little feet, do not help stick to a surface though. Semi- clear outer skin on both body and tail. Tail has an exposed black top (past the semi-clear outer coat), She has a mouth and she halts movement with sensation of predation (moving the container). When flipped upside down she wiggles her forward half to flip over. Interior front ¾ has a white color which could be an extra layer of skin which protects it internal organs and the lower ¼ has a darker color – could signify waste. Pokes something out of his mouth when she moves forward. Bilaterally symmetrical with pair organs – pairs of feets.

Bodily measurements: at rest, his main body is about 1.1 cm, his tail is about 1.6 cm, giving us a whole-body length of 2.7 cm. During locomotion, she extends her body, when it is extended the main body reaches about 1.4 cm in length with the tail the same length. This makes her max length around 3.0 cm. When she contracts her body, it is about 1 cm in length. Her main body has a width of about .2 cm and her tail has a width of about .05cm. With the change in body lengths between movement, and through visual calculations, she moves about .3 cm each time she extends forward and then contracts her body.

The subject is a larval looking organism that is moving around. It was placed in the bowl along with some wood chips, which would lead me to believe that it prefers to be buried in the wood chip material. While it looks like it is trying to eat the woodchips sometimes, it is not trying to eat them. It has as pale green color with dark green lines on its main body segment that is about 1.25 cm long 0.25 cm thick, however that length varies as the organism changes shape when it moves. As it moves in a circular pattern around the bowl, I can see its white insides moving around as the pale green color comes from a somewhat translucent tissue layer on top of its inner organs. The entire body is covered by this translucent layer except for the tip of the tail. The dark lines that go throughout the main body segment looks as though they could be an organ system instead of just for decoration. The head of the organism has a lot of the dark coloration underneath the pale green layer of tissue. Perhaps the dark green is part of nervous system or circulatory system. It also has a dark green tail of some kind that is about 1.5 cm long and about 0.5 mm in thickness. It moves in a way that is very similar to a caterpillar. It seems to lead its motion with the opening of its mouth and then contracts its body and extends it. When looking at the underside of it, it has 8 pairs of “legs”. In addition to that it has a mouth on the bottom of its body at the front of the main body segment. When I touched the organism to move it to a place it could be measured, it had a very soft touch to it and felt very fragile. Whenever I touch the organism, it seems to freeze up for a couple seconds. Once I stop touching it, it resumes moving around the bowl.

One thing that I would want to know is what the creature would eat. If I put the organism on a leaf, would it eat the leaf? In addition to that, I am curious where it prefers to live. If I put it in an environment with dirt, would it try to burrow down to find safety? Or is it used to being up in a tree and munching on leaves? Ideally, I would try to let it grow up into its adult stage to figure out what this organism is the larval version of.

Brown

~30 mm

Body can elongate

Able to move

Moves in worm/wave like manner

Body ~14 mm

Upon movement able to lengthen body by ~3 mm

No specific movement of tail, seems to serve no purpose

2 sets of 4 bumps under body akin to feet

Front and back end of body dark brown, middle of body lighter brown

“Head” portion can open up and produce “face”

    2 very small lines  produced, possible mouth?

Seems to have clear outer skin layer that stretches, while brown layer beneath moves

Able to turn itself over

Small dark brown dots on body and 2 on tail

Underside slightly pink coloration

Thin dark brown line running down center of tail

Tail has slight curve at very tip

Likely a larva/caterpillar of some sort

Unable to climb walls of container

    *was able to bring head over lip of container

Crawls around edge of container

Kept in sawdust

When disturbed, freezes in place for short time before resuming motion

Pieces of sawdust able to stick to face

    Unknown if intentional biting or simply sticking

Able to lift head portion into air

Tail somewhat flexible, able to get folded under body without breaking

Long period of time with no movement

    Later resumed moving

Possibly aware of confinement, multiple attempts to climb out

    Suggests some level of intelligence/awareness

What is it?

Can it see?

What does it eat?

Does it interact with other ones of whatever it is?

• Touch:
  
  • Feels smooth
• Sight:
  
  • Looks a light brownish color, with a clear body
  • It has a tail and little feet at the bottom of its body
  • It moves by expanding its body and retracting it
  • Seems to stop moving after you touch it
  • Inside, it appears to have a black tip at the front and the back of its white body.
  • Body is about 1.5 cm in body length when fully stretched, 3 cm including the tail. 1 cm in length when it’s at rest and not moving
  • Appears to have no eyes, moves around by the sense of touch. It doesn’t avoid the wooden chips, it goes through it or moves it out of the way.
  • When its body stretches out, a tongue or some kind of touch receptor comes out to sense what’s in front of it.
  • Likes to move toward the edges of the container
  • Can climb; escaped the container a couple of times
• What does it eat?
• What environment best suits this organism?
• How does it see/sense its surroundings?
• How does it reproduce?

This specimen is partially transparent and is long in shape, with a tail that is slightly longer than its body. The creature moves slowly in a slinking motion as if it is about to shed its skin but isn’t. Dark spots, what may be eyes, are centered at the front of the creature’s head. The tail is darker and there is a slight dark line throughout the creature’s body. The creature may not be able to see but can sense its surroundings in same way. It appears to be eating the wooden flakes and they are visible in its torso. The specimen keeps arching its anterior and continues to move in a slinking motion. Whenever the container is moved or the creature can sent a change in environment, the creature freezes and ceases to move for around thirty seconds. The creature prefers the edge of the container and mostly goes around and around and occasionally pokes its anterior upwards and touches the wall, perhaps attempting to escape. The creature moves like an inchworm. The specimen appears to be about 3.5 cm, with the torso being about 1.5 cm and the tail being 2 cm. I would like to know how this creature reacts in warmer and cooler temperatures, and I would also like to know how it would interact with others of its kind. Can it move faster when provoked? Why does it play dead when it senses change? Does this creature bite? Has it finished growing? How does it reproduce? Where are its pain receptors?