The Parasite A Cricket’s Nightmares Are Made Of
Hairworm target haquintero The hairworm is a long, thread-like parasite that sits bundled up inside the body of its host. It grows so large that it takes up most of the room inside the host’s body, waiting for the right moment to come bursting out. But that is not the scariest thing about the parasite, because it can also survive a deep freeze (at -70°C) and go on to infect its favourite hosts. Fortunately for us, those hosts are some insects and crustaceans. The adult hairworm (in the phylum Nematomorpha) is aquatic but in many species the worm develops inside land-loving insects. To ensure it does not dry up when it escapes from the innards of its host, it uses its first trick to manipulate the host. When the time has come for it to make an exit, the...