It's kinda cute. I was hoping, after reading the comment about birthing live young, that that would be on the video.
at 00:14 in the video, the worm appears to eject a liquid. Are they known to spray any sort of toxin or distractant?
Yes!
They eject a slime potentially quite far that either catches prey or deters predators. Once the prey is slimed and thus partly immobilized, the worm moves in and uses its mandibles to tear a hole. Then it injects a second liquid, which is toxic, into the hole. The toxic liquid included digestive enzymes, so later the worm can suck the digesting tissues of the prey out of the aforementioned hole.
It's kinda cute. I was hoping, after reading the comment about birthing live young, that that would be on the video.
at 00:14 in the video, the worm appears to eject a liquid. Are they known to spray any sort of toxin or distractant?
Yes!
They eject a slime potentially quite far that either catches prey or deters predators. Once the prey is slimed and thus partly immobilized, the worm moves in and uses its mandibles to tear a hole. Then it injects a second liquid, which is toxic, into the hole. The toxic liquid included digestive enzymes, so later the worm can suck the digesting tissues of the prey out of the aforementioned hole.