Nope nope nope nope nope
December 12, 2017 6:19 PM   Subscribe

Nematomorpha - The Parasitic Worm That Turns Crickets Into Suicidal Maniacs (Matt Simon, Wired)

Warning; consider all links in this post to be gross and graphic. Hypochondriacs beware.


What are Nematomorphs? (Nematomorpha.net)

Wikipedia

Revolting Parasites Emerge From Dead Cricket And Try To Mate In A Ball Of Evil (Rhett Jones, Gizmodo)

More videos of the parasite in action:
How Did a Gordian Worm End Up in My Toilet? (All About Worms)


Are gordiids dangerous to humans and pets?

No. Gordiids do not use humans or any other vertebrate as hosts. So, they cannot infect humans or your pets. However, there have been reports of gordiids as pseudoparasites.

Hmmmm...

Parachordodes sp. (Nematomorpha) human infestation of the lower urinary tract. Dexiang, W. & Wenyuan, Y. Acta Academiae Medicinae Wuhan (1981) 1: 40.

Two Human Cases Infected by the Horsehair Worm, Parachordodes sp. (Nematomorpha: Chordodidae), in Japan. Minoru Yamada, Tatsuya Tegoshi, Niichiro Abe, Misako Urabe. The Korean Journal of Parasitology 2012; 50(3): 263-267.

Any nematologists or infectious diease specialists in the house?

Is this a human infection by Gordian Worms or a case of delusional parasitosis (similar to Morgellons)

Horsehair Nematomorpha Out of Human Skin After Shower (9’37)


Previously
posted by Start with Dessert (14 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Metafilter: a giant gonad wrapped in a thin sheath of muscles
posted by killdevil at 6:35 PM on December 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


Some of these are like a clown car. How is that much worm fitting in that little insect??
posted by clawsoon at 6:48 PM on December 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


The cricket stops singing, looses its mind, thinks it can swim, puts a toe in the water and parasites, flood out from the holes in its bucket? This is too much like politics all swamp, no hill, no champagne.
posted by Oyéah at 6:58 PM on December 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


With age comes wisdom. In days of yore, a link titled "Three giant parasites explode out of zombie praying mantis" - would certainly have allure, an irresistible morsel for a thrill seeking youngster. Those days are gone and now I'll simply not click. I have learned there's no upside, no beneficial reward, to inviting even more anxiety into one's life.
posted by davebush at 7:29 PM on December 12, 2017 [15 favorites]


The jaunty banjo music accompanying "Parasites (horsehair worm) coming out from their cricket host" wins the Oscar for "Most Inappropriate Soundtrack"
posted by ejs at 9:26 PM on December 12, 2017 [4 favorites]


It is odd that I could see them in my stool and put them in the cup for culture but for some reason, they weren't found in the stool. Later, I discovered that both hook worm and thread worm change with the chemicals in the stool parasite test to preserve them.

Yeah, I'm gonna go with "delusional parasitosis" on that one.
posted by tobascodagama at 10:43 PM on December 12, 2017 [4 favorites]


That post might even need a "Autoloading animated gif of freaky worms coming out of cricket, that can not be unseen once viewed." warning...
posted by Merlin The Happy Pig at 11:22 PM on December 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


Now I know where they got the inspiration for that scene from The Thing.
posted by birdsquared at 1:08 AM on December 13, 2017


...more nope inside.
posted by Namlit at 1:57 AM on December 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


I find this less creepy than Cordyceps. Perhaps that is because I didn’t go to the link, or perhaps it is because I find mind controlling fungi more creepy— at least these worms are animals and not some damned fungus.
posted by nat at 2:52 AM on December 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


perhaps it is because I find mind controlling fungi more creepy

horsehair worms do mind control too! When it's time for them to burst forth, they somehow compel the host to throw itself into the nearest puddle or body of water.

The simplicity of the horsehair worm is what amazes me. No brain, no mouth, no digestive tract.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 9:15 AM on December 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


The word "burst" seems to be something of an exaggeration. The worms leaving the body look like pooping or like spidersilk; there's no "body shattered open" scene.

So, if you're interested but not sure you're up to an Alien-esque jump scare, the bug links should be okay. The Gizmodo link is the worst of the "writhing tentacle monster" type.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:15 AM on December 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


When I was a kid, I had a jar of spiders. For several months, around the age of 10, I'd put the scariest-looking spiders I could catch into the jar for the macabre thrill of it. Dozens of them. The glass jar was cloudy with webs. Sometimes - excitingly - they'd even fight. My pride and joy was an evil-looking, dark hairy spider almost as big as my palm, which was surprisingly docile and easy to catch.

One day while peering into my jar in the hope of seeing some action, I saw something that is still burned into my brain today. The big dark spider's body seemed to writhe and pulse, and suddenly exploded into a writhing mass that I wasn't sure if it were a snake or a worm or many. At the time, I explained it to myself that a giant, lightning-speed carnivorous worm had entered the jar somehow and attacked the biggest spider, reducing it to a shrivelled husk. There was simply no way that much worm could've come from inside the spider. But there wasn't the internet to ask in those days, and I didn't think to ask my parents either. I emptied the jar shortly thereafter.

It was 30 years later, on an internet thread like this one, that I finally realised what I had witnessed that day.
posted by snarfois at 2:37 PM on December 13, 2017 [9 favorites]


VMPV, I know they do mind control too. It’s just that I dislike the idea of mind control by fungus more than mind control by worm.

But I suppose mind control by very simple worm is also disturbing.
posted by nat at 12:00 AM on December 14, 2017


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