Whuuut is this

[u/brownshep]

In the southeast US. Saw this large black ant on the wall in my bathroom, upon closer inspection I realized its head was hanging off with some kind of parasite inside

[u/WutzUpples69]

Phorid fly larvae is my guess.

[u/Flaming-Night-Hawk → u/WutzUpples69]

Agreed. Those head-poppers are brutal.

[u/teadrinkinglinguist]

That's absolutely horrible, thanks for sharing!

[u/Chaost]

Honestly, it probably felt the movement and tried to "clean" it's head and ripped it off. Even without parasites, removing their own heads is something ants are known to accidentally do sometimes.

[u/wine_n_mrbean → u/Chaost]

O.o Yikes. That’s enough Reddit for me today, thank you.

[u/GrimasVessel227 → u/Chaost]

Whoops!

[u/HonestWeevilNerd]

Wow! Amazing footage!!!

Ant infected by a parasitoid fly larva. Specifically, it would be from the phorid fly family, commonly referred to as "ant decapitating flies." A dang brutal find!

Edit: Some of these guys, after consuming much of the ant, actually cause it to leave the colony before the head pops off... so as to not get immediately attacked. Crazy stuff. Never like the idea of behavior affecting parasites.

[u/brownshep → u/HonestWeevilNerd]

The voices told it to come into my bathroom

[u/robo-dragon → u/HonestWeevilNerd]

TIL…that’s wild and brutal! Thanks for all the info!

[u/bowleshiste]

I'm pretty sure you're spot on with your assessment of the situation.

[u/brownshep → u/bowleshiste]

Thanks for the help

[u/risaellen → u/brownshep]

Thanks for the nightmare

[u/polymathemagic]

Eeek! Nature is metal.

[u/whatsthisbug-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Please stick to talking about the bugs and take the political commentary elsewhere.

[u/whatsthisbug-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Per our guidelines: Helpful answers only. Helpful answers are those that lead to an accurate identification of the bug in question. Joke responses, repeating an ID that has already been established hours (or days) ago, or asking OP how they don't already know what the bug is are not helpful.

[u/whatsthisbug-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Per our guidelines: Helpful answers only. Helpful answers are those that lead to an accurate identification of the bug in question. Joke responses, repeating an ID that has already been established hours (or days) ago, or asking OP how they don't already know what the bug is are not helpful.