JULY 17, 2026

Researchers find superworm larvae can efficiently clean animal skeletons for museum specimens

Scientists at Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, Iran, have published a study in PLOS One describing the use of Zophobas morio — commonly called superworms — to strip flesh from animal carcasses for museum and research collections. The larvae, each nearly the size of a human finger, were tested on specimens ranging from mice and fish to wolves and wild cats. The researchers found that 10 to 15 larvae working together produced clean skeletons without apparent damage to the bones.

A natural history museum affiliated with Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, Iran, faced a practical problem: too many donated animal specimens — roadkill, injured birds, and other wildlife — and not enough freezer space to store them. Researchers needed a way to clean the carcasses down to skeleton without degrading the bones.

Niloofar Alaei Kakhki, a bioinformatician who studied and worked at the museum, and her colleagues turned to Zophobas morio, the superworm. Native to South and Central America, the larvae are widely sold as pet-store feed. The team tested whether the worms, rather than being eaten, could do the eating — consuming flesh from preserved specimens while leaving bones intact.

The team pre-cleaned specimens slightly, softened them briefly in hot water, and introduced groups of 10 to 15 larvae. According to Alaei, that number was sufficient to work efficiently without risking fragile bones. She described the worms as both fast and "super gentle," noting they successfully cleaned even "the ribs of the fish, which is super, super tiny." Alaei is now based at the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany, and said the method's reliance on commercially available larvae could make it accessible to small institutions with limited resources.