New Zealand made an unexpected decision of choosing an ancient worm as the winner for an international competition.
As reported by CNN, the NZ velvet worm won 2025’s New Zealand Bug of the Year competition, a less than scientific social experiment held every year by the Entomological Society of New Zealand.
Almost 25,000 votes were cast by people worldwide, who were asked to choose just three favourites from a list of 21 nominees including ants, crickets, flies, and maggots.
After New Zealand, the highest number of votes came from North America, Europe and Australia, with surprising 35 votes cast from "a boat in an ocean."
The winner, 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 are usually referred to among bug fans as "living fossils."
Velvet worms look like caterpillars but have short stumpy legs, and are found in cool, shady areas of Australia, Africa, New Zealand, and South America.
In New Zealand, they’re 2 to 5 centimetres (0.7 to 2 inches) long but can be longer elsewhere.
Jenny Jandt, a senior lecturer at the University of Otago and Bug of the Year committee member shared, "My hope is that folks will take a closer look at the ‘creepy crawlies’ around them, photograph them, and learn more about them."
The 2025 runner-up bug was the NZ praying mantis, who lost the competition with just 100 votes.
