Animalia --> Nematomorpha --> Gordioidea
Animalia --> Nematomorpha --> Gordioidea
Worms are long (4-24 in.) and stringlike. They can be seen breaking free of their host's bodies when exposed to water.
Definitive host: Grasshoppers and crickets
These aquatic worms develop from strings of eggs laid in water by free-living adults in the springtime. When eggs hatch, preparasitic larvae that are eaten by paratenic bug hosts. Then, parasitic larvae are eaten by definitive hosts that consume the paratenic insects. Matured parasites manipulate proteomic expression within the host and change host behavior so that it becomes more likely to jump into bodies of water where adult worms can reproduce.
S. tellinii is seasonal, occurring at the highest rates in August and September in a way that corresponds to host reproductive cycles in the summer months, since that is when young, susceptible crickets and grasshoppers are most abundant.
This parasite is found in Southern France.
Biron, D. G., Marché, L., Ponton, F., Loxdale, H. D., Galéotti, N., Renault, L., Joly, C., & Thomas, F. (2005). Behavioural manipulation in a grasshopper harbouring hairworm: a proteomics approach. Proceedings. Biological sciences, 272(1577), 2117–2126. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3213