New Zealand’s bug of the year is an ancient worm that spits poison goo

A New Zealand velvet worm rests on leaf litter. (Emanuele Biggi/imageBROKER/Shutterstock via CNN Newsource

Of all the bugs New Zealanders could have selected to win an international competition, they chose neither the prettiest, nor the most useful.

The NZ velvet worm won this year’s New Zealand Bug of the Year competition, a less than scientific social experiment held every year by the Entomological Society of New Zealand to test the vagaries of bug fans worldwide.

Almost 25,000 votes were cast by almost 10,000 people worldwide, who were asked to choose just three favorites from a list of 21 nominees including maggots, ants, crickets and flies.

After New Zealand, the highest number of votes came from North America, Europe and Australia – with an astounding 35 cast from “a boat in an ocean.”

Now to the winner… the NZ velvet worm is better known by scientists as Peripatoides novaezealandiae, a kind of peripatus, or soft-bodied invertebrate, which has been around for millions of years. They’re so old that they’re sometimes referred to as “living fossils.”

Velvet worms look like caterpillars but have short stumpy legs they use to meander around rotting leaves in cool, shady areas of New Zealand, Australia, Africa, South America and parts of Asia. In New Zealand, they’re 2 to 5 centimeters (0.7 to 2 inches) long but can be longer elsewhere.

The creatures are known as velvet worms because they’re soft to touch, but they’re also voracious predators who feast at night on the innards of other unsuspecting invertebrates.

During the day they hide in rotting logs, waiting for darkness to shoot jets of sticky fluid to catch their prey before using saliva to dissolve their insides into a nutritious soup.

This year’s competition brings no reward except greater awareness of a bug that’s potentially underappreciated worldwide, aided by a few hundred dollars in donations.

“My hope is that folks will take a closer look at the ‘creepy crawlies’ around them, photograph them, and learn more about them,” said Jenny Jandt, a senior lecturer at the University of Otago and Bug of the Year committee member.

It was a tough competition, with just over 100 votes separating the top two bugs – the NZ praying mantis came a close second.

In third was the giant springtail, described as “adorable little creatures,” who feed on fungi and slime.

Not surprisingly, last place went to the New Zealand dobsonfly, the world’s largest aquatic bug, informally known as the toe-biter for its previous encounters with humans.

Bug fans have until July to nominate their favorites for 2026.