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Waitomo is home to the world
famous Glow Worm Caves. I spent the day exploring several of
these caves, some with underground rivers. The Glow Worms themselves
are not actually worms but a Fungal Knat larva. The larva spins
a nest out of silk on the ceiling of the cave and then hangs
down as many as 70 threads of silk (called snares) from around
the nest, each up to 30 or 40 cm long and holding droplets of
mucus.The larva glows to attract prey into its threads, perhaps
luring them into believing they are outdoors, for the roof of
a cave covered with larva can look remarkably like a starry sky
at night.
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