that was a positively horrible idea to watch before bed. i must definitively say i am creeped the hell out. and will probably have nightmares. takes a lot to do that to me.
Ah, yes, the hairworm. I've been fascinated with this parasite since I first learned of its existence. Apparently hairworms target more than grasshoppers and crickets, or at least some species do. Last year, I found a large dead spider whose abdomen was sunken in like a deflated balloon. A few inches away, there was a worm that had clumped itself into a tangled, writhing brown ball that looked almost too big to have fit in the abdomen. It was quite a freaky sight. Knowing their reproductive habits, I think I nudged the worm into a nearby puddle of water.
December 12, 2007
Anonymous said...
This is even more fun that the bot fly larvae! I'm going to go cry now.
December 12, 2007
Anonymous said...
Eeeeugh. What else can you really say. I need a unicorn chaser now.
December 13, 2007
Anonymous said...
What's up with the music in the background?
December 13, 2007
Anonymous said...
NOT a good thing to watch while you are eating breakfast. Ick. Ick. Ick!
I'm too scared to watch this. Maybe I'll force someone else to watch it - if I can creep someone else out with it, usually my own disgust vanishes in the sadistic glee of making another person almost puke. :)
December 16, 2007
Anonymous said...
I don't speak Spanish, but I guarantee the men were saying "Hey, y'all watch this!" and the woman was saying "Will you PLEASE clean that crap up off my patio!"
December 22, 2007
Anonymous said...
That is so terrifying. I keep thinking of the Thing, where the dogs get attacked and infected.
not even gonna watch it. i'm bad enough with some bugs, but to combine it with parasitic worms? blechhhhH!
September 20, 2008
I've posted on some stuff that has made me ashamed to be human. This one makes me ashamed to be a biological entity.
Jade sent me this video (he posted on it here). What you'll watch is what happens when you step on a grasshopper that is infected with hairworms. Here's what you need to know about the hairworm: A parasitic worm that makes the grasshopper it invades jump into water and commit suicide does so by chemically influencing its brain, a study of the insects’ proteins reveal. The parasitic Nematomorph hairworm (Spinochordodes tellinii) develops inside land-dwelling grasshoppers and crickets until the time comes for the worm to transform into an aquatic adult. Somehow mature hairworms brainwash their hosts into behaving in way they never usually would – causing them to seek out and plunge into water. Once in the water the mature hairworms – which are three to four times longer that their hosts when extended – emerge and swim away to find a mate, leaving their host dead or dying in the water.
Now you can enjoy the video, and marvel at how profoundly ugly nature can be.
Thanks for the photo, Jade. I'm praying that these worms don't learn to jump species.
posted by Raging Wombat at 12:10 PM on Dec 9, 2007
21 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formLet me be the first to say.... ewwww
December 10, 2007
Words fail me. *gags slightly*
December 10, 2007
Glad to see everyone's enjoying this bit of joy, so far :)
December 10, 2007
Here's some footage of a similar forced suicide.
December 10, 2007
Oh my gawd, it just keeps going.
To think a live cricket had all that inside! Gives me the creeps.
December 10, 2007
that was a positively horrible idea to watch before bed. i must definitively say i am creeped the hell out. and will probably have nightmares. takes a lot to do that to me.
December 11, 2007
I can't even watch it...
December 11, 2007
Waaargh jeezus. Someone throw some chlorine in that pool, right away!
December 11, 2007
(shudder...gag...shudder). Howzabout more brandishing mantises? Those are nice...
December 11, 2007
that looks like something from that movie The Thing- kinda had the same effect on me too- totally linked that to all my friends :P
December 11, 2007
Parasites freakin' OWN! I mean, yeah, it's nasty but what an amazing organism.
I saw this happen in real life once, nasty way to go.
December 11, 2007
Ugh. Thats sooo nasty, I nearly threw up watching it.
December 12, 2007
Ah, yes, the hairworm. I've been fascinated with this parasite since I first learned of its existence. Apparently hairworms target more than grasshoppers and crickets, or at least some species do.
Last year, I found a large dead spider whose abdomen was sunken in like a deflated balloon. A few inches away, there was a worm that had clumped itself into a tangled, writhing brown ball that looked almost too big to have fit in the abdomen. It was quite a freaky sight. Knowing their reproductive habits, I think I nudged the worm into a nearby puddle of water.
December 12, 2007
This is even more fun that the bot fly larvae! I'm going to go cry now.
December 12, 2007
Eeeeugh. What else can you really say. I need a unicorn chaser now.
December 13, 2007
What's up with the music in the background?
December 13, 2007
NOT a good thing to watch while you are eating breakfast. Ick. Ick. Ick!
December 14, 2007
I'm too scared to watch this.
Maybe I'll force someone else to watch it - if I can creep someone else out with it, usually my own disgust vanishes in the sadistic glee of making another person almost puke.
:)
December 16, 2007
I don't speak Spanish, but I guarantee the men were saying "Hey, y'all watch this!" and the woman was saying "Will you PLEASE clean that crap up off my patio!"
December 22, 2007
That is so terrifying. I keep thinking of the Thing, where the dogs get attacked and infected.
December 25, 2007
not even gonna watch it. i'm bad enough with some bugs, but to combine it with parasitic worms? blechhhhH!
September 20, 2008