Slate: Are the sandworms of 'Dune' really worms?

Jayne said Dune's sandworms don't move like earthworms, which propel themselves forward using fluid-filled sacs that expand and contract in synchrony.

Instead, the sandworms move in a straight line like an enormous python in an undulating, rippling movement called rectilinear locomotion.

“The skeleton is basically sliding inside of the skin,” Jayne told Slate.

But this locomotion isn't known for speed.

Jayne said the sandworms of Dune are fast-moving burrowers in the sand, which is more like the movement found in a family of legless lizards. Like the fictional sandworms, some species of legless lizards burrow in sand dunes.

And like sandworms, the legless lizard can detect the vibrations of prey in the sand while hunting.

Jayne has studied snakes around the world. In 2021, he and his research colleagues discovered a form of snake movement new to science they called lasso locomotion. 

Featured image at top: Sandworms rise from the desert to attack Harkonnen soldiers in the Warner Bros. movie Dune: Part II. Photo/Warner Bros.