“What kind of worm-like thing is this?” asks Evey in her submission regarding the segmented creature pictured below. “It has antennae and no legs. I found it burrowing in my ear.” To start with, we want to express our sympathy to Evey: it must be an unnerving experience to have any kind of creature burrowing into one’s ear. Now, given that this creature was found on/in Evey, we cannot provide an identification with 100% certainty or accuracy, because there is a chance that the discovery of this organism has medical implications. So, what we can do is direct Evey to some resources were she to grow concerned for her health as a result of finding this creature, and we can also provide an identification that should only be considered if a medical professional does not identify any medical issues (and does identify the worm-like creature as a threat) or if Evey is not concerned for her health as a result of this discovery.

If Evey is concerned for her health, we recommend consulting a medical parasitologist, which is a physician who specializes in identifying and treating medical issues caused by organisms. To find a medical parasitologist or other health care provider who can actually help, Evey can do one or more of the following:
– Visit our parasite care resources page here: https://www.allaboutworms.com/get-medical-attention-and-tests-for-parasites

– Search for a medical parasitologist in her area using this directory of medical parasitology consultants: https://www.astmh.org/for-astmh-members/clinical-consultants-directory.

– Search for a local parasitologist by doing a Google search for “medical parasitologist (name of the closest big city)” or “tropical medicine specialist (name of the closest big city)”.

Provided that this is not a parasite or other threatening organism, we think Evey found a millipede. Millipedes are arthropods that feed on decomposing organic materials. They are harmless to humans and pets; the most they can do is secrete a smelly fluid as a defense mechanism which can potentially trigger a mild allergic reaction. They are not known to burrow into people’s ears on purpose, so our guess is that it just wandered into Evey’s ear. Millipedes do like dark, cramped spaces, so it might just have thought Evey’s ear was a perfect cave for it to hide in. In any case, this is not a common occurrence, so Evey does not need to fear that it will become one.

To conclude, we think Evey found a millipede in her ear, though given where it was found, Evey should disregard this identification if she wants to seek the opinion of a medical professional. We hope this helps, and we wish her the very best.

Summary

Article Name

Worm with Antennae is a Millipede

Description

"What kind of worm-like thing is this?" asks Evey in her submission regarding the segmented creature pictured below. "It has antennae and no legs. I found it burrowing in my ear." To start with, we want to express our sympathy to Evey: it must be an unnerving experience to have any kind of creature burrowing into one's ear. Now, given that this creature was found on/in Evey, we cannot provide an identification with 100% certainty or accuracy, because there is a chance that the discovery of this organism has medical implications. So, what we can do is direct Evey to some resources were she to grow concerned for her health as a result of finding this creature, and we can also provide an identification that should only be considered if a medical professional does not identify any medical issues (and does identify the worm-like creature as a threat) or if Evey is not concerned for her health as a result of this discovery.

Author

Worm Researcher Anton