Hairworms

A hair worm is a parasite that lives in insects (Leung, 2013). This Parasite is extremely frightening to other insects because the parasite will grow in its host and eventually take up most of the room on the inside of its host until it is ready to come out of its host (Leung, 2013). These worms can survive up to     -70 degrees Celsius which means they can survive extremely harsh conditions (Leung, 2013). The hair worm is in phylum Nematomorpha (Leung, 2013). As the worm is tempting to escape its host it doesn't die as it leaves its host instead it tricks the brain of its host to look for water so the worm can enter the water from its host to reproduce (Leung, 2013). The parasite first starts off as a free hatching egg that has been suspend in water and is a swimming larva and then it enters an aquatic invertebrate (Leung, 2013). Once the first host is eaten by a second host for example a cricket that is when the worm fully matures (Leung, 2013). Hairworms live in temperate climates and it can take up to a year for the worm to find a host where it can reach maturity(Leung, 2013). I personally believe that these hair worms are extremely horrifying because they take up almost the entire body of their host and they pop out much like the movie alien when a small alien pops out of a persons chest. They also manipulate the brian of their host to ensure its own survival (Leung, 2013).  Although a hair worm do not effect humans it makes you wonder if there are any worms out that similar to the hair worm that may eventually effect humans and act and do they same things the hair worm does to various insects. 

http://phys.org/news/2013-11-parasite-cricket-nightmares.html 

The link above is a link to a youtube video used in the article I discovered while looking for something interesting to talk about. It shows the hair worm leaving its host. I got this video from http://phys.org/news/2013-11-parasite-cricket-nightmares.html a article by Tommy Leung the credit for the video goes to phys.org.




works cited

     Leung, Tommy. "This Parasite Is the Stuff a Cricket's Nightmares Are Made of." This Parasite Is the Stuff a Cricket's Nightmares Are Made of. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013.