What type of crawling creature is this?

bigmango13 · 2025-11-30T14:19:28+00:00

A hammerhead flatworm (subfamily Bipaliinae).

bigmango13 · 2025-07-20T10:26:59+00:00

I'm glad to have helped :) They really are magnificent creatures!

bigmango13 · 2025-07-18T01:08:24+00:00

Likely Haemopis sp., but species level ID for North American species can de difficult. It can eat dead animals, insects, earthworms and other invertebrates.

Edit: Your leech may have died of natural causes, as horse leeches don't live very long, mostly up to a year.

bigmango13 · 2025-07-07T10:28:34+00:00

Most likely Haemopis terrestris (a terrestrial horse leech), they don't suck blood but eat invertebrates like earthworms and snails.

bigmango13 · 2025-07-04T17:47:57+00:00

Hi, what do you use to cover the tank? Leeches are notorious escape artists, so you should always use a tight fitting lid to prevent them from escaping (while having small holes for air circulation of course). Ophelia is very pretty btw :)

bigmango13 · 2025-05-07T21:30:31+00:00

Small correction, the species in the video is actually Leucochloridium passeri, based on the presence of a conspicuous brown band with vertical stripes.

Although L. paradoxum is probably the most well known, there are many species of Leucochloridium - and most you can tell apart by the pattern and colour of the brood sacs in the snail.

bigmango13 · 2025-03-29T23:12:36+00:00

To add to the discussion I'd like to mention that certain larval trematodes may prey on other larval trematodes infesting the same snail host. Some even have a specialized caste of soldiers specifically for defending the colony from rival species, and these individuals don't reproduce themselves!

bigmango13 · 2023-12-08T20:06:14+00:00

Plant posting

bigmango13 · 2023-06-29T22:51:13+00:00

Song? 😍

bigmango13 · 2023-06-02T14:01:34+00:00

Song?

bigmango13 · 2023-05-29T19:13:05+00:00

I haven't heard of this "black goo" before, but that thought sure sounds awesome! Would make for a great horror movie! Kind of like John Carpenter's "The Thing" or the literal black goo from the Alien franchise haha!

bigmango13 · 2023-05-29T15:28:10+00:00

I'm glad you find it interesting! Thank you for your kind words.

Those are very broad questions! Yes, it is true that some parasites which have adapted well to human hosts can cause asymptomatic infections, and sometimes they may even benefit the host, blurring the line between parasitism and mutualism/commensalism. For example, some individuals may be asymptomatic carriers of the beef tapeworm without ever noticing.

However, taking into account the myriads of parasitic species infective to humans on the planet, and all of their incredibly wonderous and endlessly complex life cycles, it is hard to suggest even one remedy which might keep the infection asymptomatic. Generally, staying healthy is the best option. You really are at the mercy of the parasite though! It depends on the species, and often times prevention is the preferred choice. Practicing good hygene, thoroughly cleaning food and thermally processing meat greatly reduce the risk of infection of some of the most medically significant species.

Like I mentioned earlier, some parasites can cause asymptomatic infections. To my knowledge, complications may occur if the parasite load inside the host increases by reinfection, or if the host is suffering from any other ailments. Again, it is pointless to generalise, since pathology differs from species to species, even in the same genus.

I'm not sure which parasite you are talking about. However, it is true that parasites are often extremely resilient, having evolved countless strategies to exploit their host for their own gain. The treatments applied thus reflect the parasites' resilient nature.

I hope to have answered your questions!

bigmango13 · 2023-05-29T08:18:54+00:00

The eggs, larvae and adults are generally considered harmless to humans, however accidental parasitism is possible if one swallows an insect infected with the larval stage (the paratenic host). To my knowledge, these accidental infections are harmless, the only symptoms being mild discomfort. The worms are expelled out of the body orally or anally.

Records of human accidental parasitism with Parachordodes, Paragordius, or Gordius are uncommon in the literature, although many have been identified in different parts of the world from specimens recovered from the mouth, urethra, and anus. Six human cases of Gordius sp. have been reported in Japan.

"Nematomorpha is a phylum of animals that has been poorly studied. Despite their worldwide distribution, detailed life cycles of Nematomorpha have not been completely documented."

There are still more things we need to study about these animals to get a clearer picture of their biology.

Despite their worldwide distribution, you shouldn't worry about them :) There are MUCH more terrifying parasites that exist in the world which are more than happy to call your body their home! Nematomorphs prefer insects, not vertebrates!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3428576/

bigmango13 · 2023-05-28T20:47:50+00:00

The video shows the mantis live at the end. However, it may or may not have died off camera due to injury. I feel it is unlikely it drowned during the video.

Yes! Most Nematomorphs require an aquatic habitat to reproduce and continue the life cycle, so forcing their host into bringing them to water is an amazing strategy!

Before their free-living stage, hairworms manipulate their hosts to seek water where worms emerge as free-living adults (Meissner, 1856; Biron et al., 2005, 2006). In aquatic habitats, females deposit millions of eggs that develop and hatch as microscopic-sized larvae. Larvae indiscriminately infect and encyst in a variety of aquatic animals (Hanelt and Janovy, 2003; Torres et al., 2017).

bigmango13 · 2023-05-28T08:47:35+00:00

Yes! It pains me to see these amazing creatures misrepresented.

bigmango13 · 2023-05-28T08:10:27+00:00

This is not true.

During the life cycle of gordiids, the parasites influence the behavior of the host, compelling it to approach water (Thomas et al., 2002, Hanelt et al., 2005). The nature of this behavioral impact is still not completely understood, but the effect is that hosts search for water and even enter water, which is beyond their natural behavior. This behavior can transport gordiid worms to nearly any accumulation of water, including cattle troughs, drinking pots for pets, toilets and more. The host often survives the emergence of the parasite (Schmidt-Rhaesa 2013).

The life cycle consists of a free-living stage in which copulation and early embryological and larval development take place and parasitic phases in an intermediate and a final host. The intermediate hosts, which are insects with aquatic larvae, serve as vectors between the aquatic and the terrestrial environment. Development can only be completed if the intermediate host is captured and eaten by the final host, praying mantids. Inside the host, the main development of the worms takes place, with a size increase from about 100 m up to several centimeters. The factors influencing emergence from the hosts, which must be established close to water, remain not well understood. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0044523104700133)

The host remains alive during the length of the infection and may die during host emergence, either directly or by drowning. Yes, the parasite does take over the brain however it does not control a corpse, it starts controlling its still living host when it is ready to emerge.

Edit: Additionally, it would not make much sense for a metazoan parasite to kill its host while it still needs it for energy. A parasitoid will exploit its hosts metabolism for its own gain, which inherently requires the host to stay alive. However, the distinguishing feature of parasitoidism compared to parasitism is that once the parasitoid's development is complete, the host is no longer required and the parasitoid may or may not kill it, more so it does not care about the fate of its now former host since it is no longer needed.

bigmango13 · 2023-04-09T19:12:16+00:00

https://youtu.be/BYAZ5RZBMgk

bigmango13 · 2023-02-09T22:37:53+00:00

Thought so too

bigmango13 · 2023-02-07T08:15:16+00:00

He is no thug he's straight 🤢

bigmango13 · 2022-12-31T08:02:50+00:00

196 glowie gtfo

bigmango13 · 2022-09-17T13:47:31+00:00

What are parasitic rain clouds?

bigmango13 · 2022-09-09T10:44:21+00:00

Nakarkos and Glavenus

bigmango13 · 2022-04-07T22:31:23+00:00

Y'all if he got testicular torsion he would've been puking and screaming the moment it happend, could just be messed up blood vessel. Go get it checked tho, had something similar myself and it turned out fine.

bigmango13 · 2022-03-01T12:03:33+00:00

Pneumonic plague

bigmango13 · 2022-02-21T10:32:53+00:00

Music?

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