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Why is opus vermiculatum called wormlike work?

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Bird mosaic — mosaic Mosaic floor fragment from a synagogue or church, cut stone with mortar from Israel, late 5th–6th century ce; in the Jewish Museum, New York City.

Opus vermiculatum is referred to as "wormlike work" because of the specific way the mosaic is constructed. The term vermiculatum is derived from the Latin word for worm, and it describes the characteristic undulating, curving rows of tesserae—the small cubes of stone, glass, or ceramic—used to create the design.12

These winding, wormlike lines allowed artists to follow the contours and outlines of figures with great precision, enabling fine gradations of color that were not possible with the coarser opus tessellatum technique. By arranging these tiny pieces in such fluid patterns, artisans were able to achieve a "painting in stone" effect, which was frequently used for central figural panels known as emblēmata during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.2