Worms or cecilia are similar either to snakes without scales, or to earthworms. They are found in Africa, Asia and America and are actually amphibians. And much more primitive (and therefore ancient) than frogs and salamanders.
There are almost 100 species of worms in the family, and relatively recently in 2012, a whole new genus of worms was found in India, which received the Latin name Chikilidae.
Some worms reach more than a meter in length, but the Indian worm is very small, only about 10 cm. It lives in the upper layers of the soil like earthworms, but it has many small and sharp teeth, which hints that it is a predator.
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The worm tries to attack the earthworm, which is much larger than it.
Due to its small size, the Indian worm feeds on insects and worms and for this it is very much appreciated by farmers, since it destroys pests and loosens the earth much better than an earthworm.
Larger species of worms can eat frogs, lizards, and even small snakes. The worms have practically no eyes, but they have a keen sense of smell and touch.
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But the most amazing thing about worms is their care for their offspring. After laying eggs in the nest, the female does not leave them and incubates for 50 days. All this time she does not eat anything.
The worms bypass the larval stage and are born immediately fully formed, like baby snakes.
When they are almost ready to hatch, their bodies are perfectly visible through the transparent shell of the egg, and then the entire clutch of eggs becomes like something alien from a horror movie. Moreover, the cubs are actively moving inside the egg.
When small worms hatch, they are extremely nimble.
When the cubs hatch, they soon become very hungry and the female immediately gives them food, which is a special mucus on her skin.
And in the jungles of Guiana live worms that feed their young with particles of their own skin! More precisely, a special thick growth that grows during incubation.
And the offspring even have special teeth to scrape it off the body of an adult. Babies gnaw their mother until they reach one third of her size. After that, they start looking for food themselves.
When scientists examined the surface composition of this skin, they were surprised to find that it was similar to that of mammalian milk.