Video: Gordian worm leaves its cricket host

Gordian worms are parasites that live inside the likes of beetles, cockroaches, and crickets. The worms can be as long as one meter and 3 millimeters in diameter. Here is a video of a gordian worm emerging from its host in a swimming pool. Gordian worm (YouTube, via 37 Signals, thanks Sean Ness!)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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hassan-i-sabbah

Yup.what the above said….yup.
neurolux

I was expecting the gordian worm to be all tied up like xmas lights
Takuan

I thought it was ants that the fluke made climb high to be eaten
Alfie

TAKUAN: Reead the diabolic post.

Zombie Snails need Braaaains.
ROSSINDETROIT

Zombie crab! Oh goodness. I guess it’s extra sleeping pills for me until that image passes.
zuvembi

Yeaaahh, and it’s posts like these that make glad I have noscript/flashblock on. Being able to read the comments before even being tempted with a teaser image is a *good* thing.
Takuan

oh yeah, cordyceps…got some relatives like that…
slywy

#!2, because it grows as it consumes the insect’s innards. It leaves when the insect is near water, and the host is left dead.
bubbleman

OMG, lately I have been drawn to large bodies of water. Been feeling constipated too. Could it be….NAW..
joelphillips

Accompanying the original Nature article is an even more disgusting video of the worm emerging from a frog’s mouth after the frog has eaten a cricket, which hosted the worm. The frog is not very happy about this.

I expect that you need a Nature subscription to watch the film.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7085/extref/440756a-s3.mov
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7085/full/440756a.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7085/suppinfo/440756a.html
ill lich

Another example of a parasite controlling the hosts behavior, in this case causing suicide, as the worm needs water to emerge (although considering the size of the worm, I believe the host would be dead anyway once the worm left).

The wikipedia page has another longer video that explains the process.
error404

there is a barnacle…or is it a limpet?….any way it adhers to the top side of a crab and bores through into the head and becomes the crab.

I know it’s like a giant Mech Appleseed style thing but with a zombie theme.
Antinous

nnuygen,

If you’re bored, please don’t let us keep you.
duus

That happened to me once. Sucked.
ROSSINDETROIT

Ducklings and puppies to the rescue!
bwcbwc

In a swimming pool, eh? I think my kids trips to the local public pool are over for this lifetime.
dbarak

That’s knot a Gordian worm… (Just kidding)
Fart Sandwich

That, my friends, is fucking disgusting. And, disgustingly awesome. With the transitive theory of awesome, it’s: fucking disgustingly awesome.
gabu

Ach! Barf.
broussardish

I read the comments carefully and no one has asked the most obvious question: WHERE DOES THE WORM GO NEXT!!! It’s in a swimming pool for God’s sake. Warn the children!
Takuan

too late…heh….heh…heh
Anonymous

There’s a really good discussion and additional video materials on how the worm goes about modifying the behavior of the insect host:

http://www.canal.ird.fr/canal.php?url=/programmes/recherches/grillons_us/index.htm
Lea Hernandez

DAAAAAH! Unicorn chaser!
JoeKickass

Congratulations, that’s the most disgusting thing I have ever seen.
Takuan

iz like wheena tha pasta she too al dente!
nnguyen

isn’t this like the third time this video has been posted on boing boing? (or if not, then you guys are like waaaay behind in internet time)
dbarak

Now if we could just power our vehicles with those worms, we’d be all set.
Abby

Gross, but not as bad as it could be.
You want disgusting? Be glad this isn’t one linked on Fazed a few months ago – in it, the host is a grasshopper or something like that. The person taking the video had crushed the host and showed the worm(s?) wriggling out in all its horror. Not linking because I have no intention on finding it again.
Orchestra Spy

wtf is internet time?
anyway, chewing on that first mouthful of jerk pork roti and I see this god damn worm crawling out! Gets me thinking I should floss.
Takuan

why is an emerging worm gross? Why doesn’t the feeling of relief dominate?
slywy

“There have been reports of humans and dogs excreting Gordian Worms. Accidental ingestion of the worms, perhaps in drinking water, is the most likely explanation for these observations. Although Gordian Worms can resemble some of the parasitic round worms (Phylum Nematoda), but there is no danger of humans becoming parasitised by them.”

Until they evolve . . .
pyota

the cricket doesn’t seem to be doing too well
Anonymous

Do you wanna know the best part? The worm forces the cricket to go to the water. There is where it completes the life cicle
Takuan

OK, next horror movie critter: the larval form eats from within just long enough to make you have to admit its there, and then it emerges as a snake-form with teeth that starts dining on the outside of you with half of it still inside you. Huh? huh?
Alfie

I did a whole post on mind controling parasites including Gordians on my blog a while back.

The terrifying flatworm of Doom is my fav, and video..is included

“Leucochloridium paradoxum are a parasitic flatworm that prey on birds.
The worms begin their lives as eggs in bird droppings, and are consumed by snails along vegetation floors. Once consumed, the worms infect the snail’s brains, take control of their mind, then “hypnotize” them into climbing just high enough to become bird food – where the cycle repeats.”

http://alflamont.blogspot.com/2007/01/zombie-insects.html
Keto is Keto

What happened to the cricket after the worm left…? Cricket to therapist: “I have this horrible empty feeling inside me…”
jesushootscores

Condoleezza Rice
LogrusZed

Seriously, how the fuck did that cricket have room for that much worm inside it?