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Hello,

I'm new to this forum, and to diptera as well. I'm a microbiologist from Oklahoma, and two weeks ago I received some water with "small white worms" wanting an identification. I determined them to be diptera larvae, however could not determine the variety.

My first thought was psychodidae, given that they had been found in the pipes of a drinking fountain, however, these larvae have a retractile head with very clear mouth hooks, parallel on a vertical plane, and I could not find any literature stating that any species of psychodidae possessed this feature.

Now my curiosity has gotten the best of me, and I was hoping that someone here might be able to guide me in the right direction.

Sorry for the poor photos, I do not have a camera for my microscopes, and my phone can only do so much through a microscope lens.











They are very transparent, have a clearly visible cephalopharyngeal skeleton with two thin mouth hooks. The head retracts while moving, and the posterior lobe can retract fully within.

They measure at just about 4mm in length. I've looked at ceratopogonidae, drosophilidae, phoridae, ephydridae, and psychodidae, but nothing seems to fit well enough.