nanonaturalist: GUYS I JUST SAW AN ANT WITH THE FREAKY MIND…
Saturday, April 8th, 2017GUYS I JUST SAW AN ANT WITH THE FREAKY MIND CONTROL PARASITE. The parasite is a microscopic flatworm (Dicrocoelium dendriticum) with a crazy lifecycle–it starts out in snails, then gets into ants, then goes to cows, and starts all over again. The ants affected by this parasite will climb to the end of a stalk of grass in the evening and wait there until early morning, where they will go back to regular ant activities, every day until they’re eaten by a cow.
This ant is a harvester ant (I believe–last two photos are of the nest) which is interesting because the wikipedia article specifies the species this parasite affects in the US, and it’s not a harvester ant. But this spot (a ranch with a pond and lots of cows nearby) would be a great environment for the parasite to thrive. This ant was struggling but COULDN’T let go. I tried to get more/better photos with the microscope but lost the blade of grass (wind blew it away) before I could get set up.
Learn more about this parasite here: http://ift.tt/2obeX3W
That’s so cool. At our local salt marsh there is a flatworm parasite that uses killifish as an intermediate host. The parasite lodges in the fish’s brain and induces it to swim on its side near the surface, which causes the fish’s light-colored belly to flash skyward. This makes it more likely the fish will be preyed upon by a heron, inside of which the flatworm completes its life cycle.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/2ocO80O.
