By Susan Milius
A Gordian worm grows up inside an insect, then leads its host to drown itself so the worm can free itself. But, should an aquatic predator get to the insect first, the worm has an escape plan, says an international research team.
This marks the first time scientists have documented this escaping-parasite trick, says Fleur Ponton of the Institute of Research for Development in Montpellier, France.
Typical hosts such as crickets aren’t aquatic, but the worms make them so erratic that they hop into water. The crickets eventually drown, but the parasite escapes into the water, its natural adult environment, to breed.