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Liver Fluke Life
(Preview)
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Insect Species
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0
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1877
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Here's a story of zombies, parasitic mind control, and livers. In the end, I take away a cautionary tale from it, one that I'll pass on to my kids (the smaller ones at least): don't eat snail slime. Prepare for some erudition on the liver fluke. Source -- Edited by Jollyjo on Saturday 15th of August 2009 0...
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Mermithid Nematodes:This Week's Sci-Fi Worthy Parasite
(Preview)
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Insect Species
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0
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1910
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There are a lot of parasites that cause strange changes in their hosts. Parasites turn hosts into zombiesgorge on the flesh of the host from the inside out, even assist a host's suicide. But one of the most interesting and extreme changes caused by a parasite is achieved by the mermithid nematode. Sim...
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This Week's Sci-Fi Worthy Parasite: Cotesia glomerata
(Preview)
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Insect Species
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0
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2025
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Parasitic wasps are always an easy target as sci-fi parasites. After all, they were the main inspiration behind the film "Alien" - clearly they're 'sci-fi worthy'. They all do terrible, mean things to their hosts while they eat them alive from the inside out. And, simply, they're just really, reall...
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Trapdoor Spider Strikes
(Preview)
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Arachnids
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1
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2762
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I think we all can empathize with this cricket. My boss's office is like this trapdoor spider's spidey-hole. If you aren't alert, and you walk by and catch his notice - WHAM! - he strikes, and you've just been handed an armload of new work and a couple of hours of unpaid overtime. Count how many times you s...
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Ecdysis - Molting
(Preview)
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Insect Species
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0
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2623
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Don't we all at times feel constrained by the rigidity of our exoskeleton? Perhaps we feel a simple need to grow, or perhaps an urge to metamorphose into something entirely new. Either way, we must go through a painful, yet necessary ecdysis(wiki), the moulting of that old skin in favor of a new, plian...
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Feasting caterpillars take over car
(Preview)
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Insect Species
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1
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2386
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What do you do if you're an ermine moth larvae and you and your horde have run out of trees to defoliate? If you're in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, you turn to automobiles. Photo source: NGM Blog Central This is the scene the Dutch woke up to one late Spring day. They immediately thought they were under sie...
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Logan the Fly
(Preview)
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Insect Species
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0
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1975
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I always thought that a fly's face looks like a baseball being pulled apart at the seams. In fact, I get so distractd by that split and those eyes and that mouth that I've failed to notice the fly's sideburns. Shame on me. So Steve named this fly Logan (of Wolverine fame, for you non-nerds). Aptly named, t...
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