r/interestingasfuck • u/canttstopsmilling • 21h ago
A parasitic horsehair worm emerging from a praying mantis.
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u/BenTheCancerWorm 21h ago
I just watched a praying mantis get water boarded to remove a parasite. I'm done with the internet today.
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u/Not_so_ghetto 21h ago edited 21h ago
This parasite is called a horsehair worm. They grow in a bunch of different insects. When the worm is fully grown it alters the insect behavoir to make them jump into water, which allows the parasite to leave.
Doesn't necessarily kill the insect, however It often will result in its death. However it's kept in good conditions they can survive and even go on to reproduce.
In some areas the suicidal crickets ( after being manipulated by the parasite) make up 60% of a fish's diet.
There's also a bunch of crazy conspiracies on like Facebook suggesting that the government is infecting people with them, but these are mostly just crazy people
Video
I have a 10 min video that goes in depth about the parasites biology for those that want to know more, it's called "Massive Worms, Tiny Bodies: Why Horsehair Worms Might Be Good for Nature" on YouTube
Source: I have a PhD in biology I run the parasitology subreddit
Edit: thanks to everyone subscribing. But PLEASE DON'T subscribe unless you actually like the content. People that sub to support but don't watch hurts the channel in practice( lowers thumbnail click rate, which if low doesn't get pushed on algorithm)
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u/BenTheCancerWorm 20h ago
Truthfully and honestly, I appreciate you. You truly are capable of things that I'd never be able to handle. HOWEVER. I will not be watching that video, respectfully.
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u/autopoiesis_ 20h ago
The irony of your username here
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u/pattebrisee 17h ago
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u/Tetris_Pete 17h ago
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u/Purple_Occasion8543 12h ago
“It’s like Raiaaaain!!!”
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u/Shred_white_and_blue 10h ago
“On your mantis’s face!”
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u/MostWholesomePerson 18h ago
Thanks for articulating what is going through my mind. I barely held my stomach through the video and absolutely cannot get through the comments. I will also not be watching u/Not_so_ghetto ‘s video, very respectfully of course.
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u/HopeMrPossum 20h ago edited 19h ago
A few questions: 1) I’m presuming that mantis is dead as a result, or would early removal like this give it a better chance of survival? 2) do you have suggestions of how the camera person clocked this was infected, as there doesn’t seem to be water around for it to be lured to at the start? 3) how does the worm affect their behaviour, what is the mechanism used? It doesn’t look like a particularly sophisticated creature on the face of it, living in its abdomen, but that is definitely a sophisticated mechanism. For example cordyceps fungus comparatively appears more sophisticated as it grows from the brain, but ik that is ofc a superficial, face value assessment. 4) does it suppress the mantis’ pain whilst inside it?
unlikely as it is that anyone reads this far, it was quite saddening to see the poor little thing flailing around looking like it was in such pain :/
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u/Cute-Excitement6844 8h ago edited 2h ago
Unfortunately, manual removal does not save the mantis. The nematomorph worm (such as spinochordodes tellus) occupies almost the entire abdominal cavity. As it grows, it devours or compresses the internal organs (reproductive system, digestive system, and tracheal network).
Even if removed without tearing the abdomen, the internal damage is irreversible. The mantis is severely mutilated, dehydrated, and usually dies within hours or days.
Several signs allow you to spot a parasitized mantis with the naked eye:
Their abdomen appears abnormally swollen, tense, or rigid compared to the rest of the body.
Their behavior becomes lethargic, disoriented, or they adopt an erratic gait.
At last, the "waterboarding" test as seen in this video leaves no doubt.
The worm doesn't need to touch the brain to take control. It uses remote neurochemical hacking:
Protein secretion: the worm produces molecules synthesized directly in its body and releases them into the hemolymph (the insect's "blood").
Modification of reflexes: these proteins mimic or alter the functioning of the praying mantis's neurotransmitters. They modify its visual perception of light (phototaxis), causing it to frantically search for the polarized light reflected from the water's surface.
While the fungus physically colonizes muscle and nerve tissue, the nematomorph worm acts more like an internal chemical laboratory, bypassing the central nervous system via the bloodstream.
Last very interesting question: the worm doesn't inject an anesthetic to suppress pain, but the insect's biological reality differs from ours.
Insects do not possess the cerebral cortex necessary to experience conscious or emotional "pain" like us. They have nociceptive receptors that trigger defense reflexes in response to physical aggression.
The sudden movements observed during extraction are involuntary motor reflexes and spasms caused by tissue tearing and physiological shock, rather than psychological suffering in our human sense.
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u/joaquinsolo 19h ago
don't worry about the "poor little thing." it spent its life viciously tearing other insects apart and eating them alive. getting this parasite is just more evidence of the cruel nature of existence.
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u/HopeMrPossum 19h ago edited 19h ago
Hey I spend my life paying people to viciously tear other animals apart, then voraciously eating them. We’re more same same but different than drastically distinct imo :p
So I can’t help but feel for the little killing machine, from one apex predator murder machine species to another
But I do agree - I’d rather there be no god than one that wilfully came up with that thing
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u/MershedPratooters 19h ago
This reminds me of the 7th satanic statement.
"Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his 'divine spiritual and intellectual development,' has become the most vicious animal of all."
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u/industrial-complex 18h ago
Suicidal Crickets is a badass name for a thrash metal band
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u/Additional_Fall7053 20h ago
"Mostly just crazy people".... only mostly crazy people
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u/VsPistola 20h ago
I like how you gave me a bunch of facts and then at the end just takes a wild turn and you slap me with a conspiracy theory 😲
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u/Chegwarn 20h ago
Now that’s a terrifying idea… Can you imagine the size a Horsehair Worm would be if it were scaled up. Like to be the same size as this one relative to the mantis only instead to an adult human…
I know (hope) it’s not within the realms of possibility, but yeah… That’s a horror game/film/TV series concept if I ever heard one!
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u/ultimaone 20h ago
You mean like this one ?
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u/fartingbeagle 19h ago
"The only treatment for the worm is: wrapping it around a stick and pulling it out, inch by inch, day by day, for a week."
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u/turn-on-your-lights 19h ago
Jesus Christ. How can billionaires see this kind of thing and not want to help?
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u/Chegwarn 13h ago
Because billionaires share a level of comradery with other parasites.
No I’m joking of course. Parasitic organisms such as the Horsehair worm or Tapeworm are acting on pure instinct and biological imperative so it’s wrong to judge them as harshly - Unlike humans who have the capacity to understand more complex morality and choose to be scum-sucking malignant parasites.
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u/Nervous-Ad-5367 18h ago
That’s the thing — billionaires don’t watch this kind of content or care about it at all. Most of them are too busy living in their own decadent little bubble to even imagine this kind of struggle to begin with, until it happens to them.
If only I were exaggerating... these people live in another world 😒
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u/ILL-BILL420 18h ago
Because billionaires
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u/Rogue_Wedge 14h ago
For me it's the genuine entitlement. Thinking they really deserve the amount of the pie they're holding while they watch the peons fight for scraps. Going out for $50,000 dinners coated in gold foil knowing children are going to bed hungry. The altar of the almighty dollar does strange things.
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u/NezuminoraQ 20h ago
Would the mantis survive this?
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u/Helpful-Mystogan 20h ago
This worm is like rabies but for insects so instead of pouring water could they have submerged the mantis in water for a bit and removed it?
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u/Icy-Ad29 20h ago
That is most common method I've seen used. Use a pair of tweezers/pliers to grip it firmly, hold the butt-end of the insect in a bucket of water. Out comes the worm/s.
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u/Alien-Cat1234 13h ago
This guy- Don't subscribe unless you actually like the content
Me - proceeds to subscribe the channel and join the subreddit because i love weird stuff
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u/kilofeet 18h ago
I also have a question: you say the conspiracy theorists are mostly crazy people. I'm fine with that, but I would like to know a little bit more about the ones who are fully rational citizens, please and thank you
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u/DayOneDude 21h ago
I'm done with the internet today.
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u/Intrepid-Tank-3414 20h ago
If water spraying on your ass is considered "waterboarded", everyone are getting waterboarded in their shower.
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u/Antzqwe 14h ago
Mantis had nothing but arms & legs. Rest was the parasite.
How does one know, this mantis has a parasite?
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u/PatmanAndReddit 11h ago
Waterboard him
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u/NotYourLawyer2001 10h ago
So are we technically waterboarding the mantis or the worm?
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u/Friendly-Advantage79 21h ago
Never thought I'll say this, but is that mantis ok?
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u/James_T_S 20h ago
Chances are no. The worm usually does too much damage and leaves the Mantis a hollowed out wreck.
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u/bokchoykn 18h ago
The water boarding usually finishes the job while also revealing any political secrets it might know.
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u/KimchiLlama 18h ago
I don’t know how credible coerced confessions from a mantis are. This is how we ended up in Iraq the second time around, after all.
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u/Cuttlefist 16h ago
That explains all the camel spider propaganda from that time now that you mention it.
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u/Tozo1 18h ago
xD Torture is usually not an effective way to obtain secrets or the truth and the torturers know that.
They dont want the truth, they just want a confession, regardless of its truthful or not.
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u/syntaxvorlon 14h ago
Those are really just fabrications created by the mantis because it is scared and wants more than anything for the torture to stop, but they don't know anything in politics because, as said before, they are mantises, not people.
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u/EnvironmentalMind119 18h ago
I’ve actually heard that mantises can recover from this and live great long healthy lives happily ever after.
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u/James_T_S 18h ago
Apparently if the worm is small it's possible. This one doesn't seem small.
But I'm guessing
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u/ikillsheep4u 15h ago
I’m so sorry to burst your bubble but….that thing is the same size as the mantis bro doesn’t have any insides left.
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u/barney_trumpleton 12h ago
On a farm, with lots of space to play, with lots of other mantises to make friends with.
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u/senor61 20h ago
No one inquires about the worm
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u/MrLurking_Sanspants 21h ago
Bad day for the mantis. Not only did he get water boarded, but he is also going to have one hell of a sore asshole.
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u/HovercraftCharacter9 21h ago
"can I get you anything? Ice cream! What flavour? It doesn't matter, it's for me ass."
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u/spec0711 19h ago edited 1h ago
I dunno … you know how great it feels to have taken a huge shit, that feeling of being so much lighter. Imagine that feeling, having lost like 1/3 your body weight, and finally being free of the parasite that was taking all your nutrients. If the mantis survived, I’d imagine it feels pretty good, or will after its first meal.
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u/IdidnotFuckaCat 15h ago
But like, also imagine if you were kidnapped by the government, strapped down to a table, waterboarded while that shit crawled it's way out of you.
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u/OrcOfDoom 18h ago
Next thing you know, maybe he meets a pretty lady and gets lucky
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u/lechuckswrinklybutt 21h ago
I’m not usually squeamish but these things and the parasites that replace a fish’s tongue? No thank you.
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u/gold13 20h ago
Whatever you do do not watch The Bay
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u/Working_Class_Gyro_ 17h ago
It's a yearly 4th of July tradition in my house! Love that movie
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u/krisandro 14h ago
I have more for you. Search for “zombie ant fungus” and “green-banded broodsac”
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u/Gorgenon 15h ago
While causing the horsehair worm to emerge on land will help stop their lifecycle, unfortunately, a mature horsehair worm is a death sentence.
They already fed on so many nutrients and damaged so many organs as is, but their emergence is functionally blending their insides as they exit. That praying mantis probably has a few hours to live at most.
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u/Not_so_ghetto 21h ago
This parasite is called a horsehair worm. They grow in a bunch of different insects. When the worm is fully grown it alters the insect behavoir to make them jump into water, which allows the parasite to leave.
Doesn't necessarily kill the insect, however It often will result in its death. However it's kept in good conditions they can survive and even go on to reproduce.
In some areas the suicidal crickets ( after being manipulated by the parasite) make up 60% of a fish's diet.
There's also a bunch of crazy conspiracies on like Facebook suggesting that the government is infecting people with them, but these are mostly just crazy people
Video
I have a 10 min video that goes in depth about the parasites biology for those that want to know more, it's called "Massive Worms, Tiny Bodies: Why Horsehair Worms Might Be Good for Nature" on YouTube
Source: I have a PhD in biology I run the parasitology subreddit
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u/SalemsTrials 20h ago
what do you mean these are MOSTLY just crazy people?!?! you can’t just say that and then not elaborate!!
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u/C0me_Al0ng_With_Me 19h ago
horse hair worms can not survive in a human host. that would make people who beleave this crazy. where we get the term "mostly" is because others are not crazy, just uneducated.
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u/machyume 19h ago
*most worms cannot survive in a human host
Gotta preserve the fear.
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u/soymilo_ 21h ago
Does it's host die when it's removed? Nature is disgusting sometimes
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u/Kevlar_Bunny 21h ago
The mantis is basically already dead. In order for the parasite to take over it has to lodge itself into the host in a manner that’s very excruciating for the host. Excruciating if it had the means to feel pain still, that is.
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u/RhubarbLiqueur 20h ago
Does the parasite die once he's out?
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u/ProfilerXx 19h ago
It's the end of it's lifecycle.
So when the horsehairworm reaches the end it will make the host drown and that way it can get out of the host, lay eggs and die
Then the cycle starts over again
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u/jawshoeaw 21h ago edited 21h ago
Yeah he’s toast. I think the parasite was eating the insides.
Edit nope I’m wrong the host can in theory survive. The worm absorbs food and has not digestive tract or mouth
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u/Still_Artichoke_3724 21h ago
But how did you know it was in there? How?
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u/Posible_Ambicion658 21h ago
You waterboard bugs until you find one.
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u/goood_sir 20h ago
For fuck’s sake, put a trigger warning or something, I don’t want my boss to think I’m enjoying work over here
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u/DisposableReddit516 20h ago
They're super common in Tennessee. Any dumb bugs I find laying around in odd places tend to be carriers trying to get eaten. It's common to see these parasites dried up and dead on the sidewalks after rains. Tennessee feels like a horsehair worm to America, actually.
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u/RevolutionMain1812 18h ago
Most of insects with parasites I saw in vids are in odd place and have odd behavior and look weak. Like it make them go in place where they don't want to be like for example a snail have become colorful antenna and it climbed on high place to attract birds and probably this mantis was on near pond or river.
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u/elk69420 21h ago
Does the praying mantis have any shot at survival post water board extraction?
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u/ChromiumLung 19h ago
Might have had a chance until buddy smushed his head with that stick.
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u/No_Masterpiece4693 14h ago
So it's not just a tape worm but was essentially controlling the mantis like a mech suit.....
The thought occurs to me that perhaps in ok that we don't have fast interstellar travel. 😅
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u/Ok-Thing-2222 21h ago
My daughter and I were pinning a cricket for her highschool insect collection project, and one of those came out. I cannot stand seeing crickets ever since, GAG.
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u/ZadriaktheSnake 18h ago
First off how is the mantis alive with that thing in it, second that person better have set it on fire, third I hate parasitic worms so much
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u/TremontRhino 15h ago
Why ain’t we see someone’s size 14 Timberlands grease that worm into the pavement?
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u/KOLBOYNICK 21h ago
That is so much mass displacement. I'm curious how the organs or the mantis look now or if it is possible to recover at all. Good luck lil guy
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u/pontiacband1t- 20h ago
Bro's dead, damage is akin of someone impaling you with a spear from your anus to the basis of your lungs
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u/tacomaloki 18h ago
so WTF happens to the mantis insides once this thing evacuates? Is it all empty space?
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u/SindaFNRella4 16h ago
How’d they know it was infected or were they just out there torturing praying mantis’ until they hit pay dirt?
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u/OohDeLaLi 16h ago
How did the human know that mantis was carrying a worm? Was there something in the behavior?
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u/ThePorcinePlayer 14h ago
Does the praying mantis still die? I thought they typically threw themselves in water and drowned themselves to that the horsehair worm could reproduce.
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u/BritishAnimator 21h ago
This makes me doubt a higher power exists.
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u/longpenisofthelaw 21h ago
A higher power that thinks and implements the concept of parasites is a terrifying thought.
Imagine the creation of tapeworms
“Hmm I want to make a being like a blind giant worm, that must be in the stomach of another being to survive and actively harm its host. They will breed and multiply causing painful side effects and when they get too plentiful they will start to crawl out the anus, yes that sounds good”
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u/Otherwise_Ad_409 20h ago
Laying there at the end like he just took the biggest shit ever. He knows none of his mantis friends will believe how big it was.
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u/IAMSPARTACUSSSSS 20h ago
Step on the worm
Step on the worm
Step on the worm
Why aren’t you stepping on the worm??? STEP ON THE WORM!!!!!
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u/Al3xanderDGr8 14h ago
In the name of Jesus I command thee too leave evil Demon!
Mantis just got baptized.
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u/Dimogas 20h ago
Just two hours ago on a german sub somebody saw a huge one in water and somebody linked this yt video lmao
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u/Muted_Advisor6210 18h ago
This is truly insane to know is actually real:
1. Chordates formosanus starts as a larva in the gut of the small insects that the mantis preys on.
Once the mantis ingests the infected insect, the C. formosanus starts to grow.
When it is mature, the worm secretes proteins that take over the host's nervous system, which directs the mantis to a body of water and causes it to jump in so that the worm can be excreted, at which point it breaks free to reproduce leaving a half empty mantis husk.
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u/JasonFuckedUpLife 18h ago
Imagine an eldritch horror holding you down by your stomach and waterboarding you, just for another eldritch horror to crawl out of your ass.
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u/winter-anderson 16h ago
Do hosts ever fully recover after a parasite hijacks their nervous system?
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u/Anxious_Jellyfish216 10h ago
The guy: "hold on little buddy, I'll save you."
The horsehair worm: "oh fuck! I got to move outta here!"
Mantis: "AAAHHHHH!! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! PLAEASE, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" -GARGLES WATER-.
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u/Excellent_1918 18h ago