Nature
PUBLISHED
These guys squished a cricket, only to reveal it was being biologically “possessed” by black, spindly worms.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The worms are believed to be nematomorpha, also known as horsehair worms, Gordian worms, or hairworms. These thread-like parasites choose the bodies (and minds) of species such as crickets, beetles, cockroaches, praying mantises, and crustaceans for their new home. Fortunately, they’re not too keen on humans or other mammals.
“That thing was a zombie cricket, dude,” someone says behind the camera. “That thing was getting controlled by those parasites.”
They’re not wrong either. Once a host is infected, hairworms take control of the nervous system and cause it to seek water. The host then “commits suicide” by drowning itself, thus returning the parasites to water where they can breed. Scary stuff.
In the video, the guys then somewhat controversially proceed to burn the parasites with a blowtorch, presumably to send it back to the pits of hell it was spawned from.
