Month: September 2022

PARASITE-MEDIATED MIMICRY: "Dramatic changes in the appearance and behavior of nematode-parasitized ants such that they resemble ripe fruits...Unlike healthy ants, which are completely black, infected ants have bright red, berry-like gasters full of parasite eggs. The infected gasters are held in a conspicuous elevated position." Birds eat the infected ants, the parasite eggs pass through the body and the feces are collected by ants who feed it to their young, thus completing the cycle (C. Atratus). https://lnkd.in/eWddRJi View in LinkedIn

CONSCRIPTED ACTORS. "There are few cases of parasite-induced mimicry, whereby the appearance of an intermediate host is transformed to the extent that it resembles a completely different organism. The only terrestrial invertebrate example is the trematode Leucochloridium, which causes the antennae of infected snails to resemble caterpillars." https://lnkd.in/eWddRJi View in LinkedIn

BRAIN MANIPULATION. "Locomotion in invertebrates also involves the action of...dopamine, serotonin and octopamine. In several cases of behavioural manipulation, neurotransmitter levels were found to be altered...higher levels of brain serotonin seem to be functionally linked to the positive phototactic behaviour observed in G. pulex infected with P. laevis and Pomphorhynchus tereticollis and in G. insensibilis infected with M. papillorobustus." https://lnkd.in/e2g9KSe View in LinkedIn

TOXOPLASMA GONDI. Normally, rodents avoid cats. "But when they are infected by toxoplasma the parasite completely changes their behaviour. An infected mouse is attracted to the smell of cat urine and will move out into the open, displaying reckless behaviour. The reason, of course, is the parasite wants the mouse to be eaten by a cat, so it can then infect its new host." https://lnkd.in/e3SVgha View in LinkedIn

THE IMPRUDENT RAT. "T. gondii’s manipulation appears to alter the rat’s perception of cat predation risk, in some cases turning their innate aversion into an imprudent attraction. The selectivity of such behavioural changes suggests that this ubiquitous parasite subtly alters the brain of its intermediate host to enhance predation rate whilst leaving other behavioural categories and general health intact." https://lnkd.in/eR7NyAm View in LinkedIn

DRIVER'S SEAT. "Moreover, since sexual reproduction of T. gondii can be accomplished only in the feline, there might be strong selective pressure on the parasite to evolve such a mechanism...the formation of parasitic cysts in the brain of its host places T.gondii in a privileged position to manipulate behaviour." https://lnkd.in/eR7NyAm View in LinkedIn

FUNGUS TURNS ANTS INTO ZOMBIES. "Infected ants drop down from canopy nests and climb up again in understory vegetation to bite into leaf veins before dying. This death grip is timed around solar noon and occurs at approximately 25 cm above the soil surface. This position is optimal for fungal sporulation, where the fungal fruiting body grows from the ant’s brain and releases its spores." https://lnkd.in/e2g9KSe View in LinkedIn

WALKING LARDER. "Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga is a Costa Rican parasitic wasp that terrorizes the spider Plesiometa argyra. When it's time to procreate, an adult female wasp will seek out a spider, paralyze it and then lay an egg on its abdomen. After hatching, the larva wasp will feed on its host, while the spider goes about its business." https://lnkd.in/evbigMp View in LinkedIn

REPRO CHANGES. "Manipulation of reproductive behaviour has been reported for several parasites. L. boulardi females superparasitize Drosophila larvae (i.e. larvae that have already been parasitized by another female wasp; Superparasitism is supposedly beneficial for the virus, because it permits horizontal transmission between L. boulardi embryos from different mothers." https://lnkd.in/e2g9KSe View in LinkedIn

JUST A STOP ALONG THE WAY. Some parasites use an intermediate host during their life cycle, and in order to travel to the ultimate host, they induce the intermediate host to be eaten by the ultimate host. View in LinkedIn