Why Do Parasites Commit Suicide Grasshoppers

In our fourth and final lab for Biology 100, we are dealing with the beetle larva mealworms. This worm-like animal is, in fact, not a worm; they are larva for the tenebrionid beetle. These larvae are most commonly used in order to feed household pets. For example: reptiles, fish, and birds. Tenebrio larvae are also considered pests to the most businesses.

Tapeworms are flat segmented worms that have a head, neck, and segments called proglottids; the scientific name is Cestoda the flatworm. Animals become infected with these tapeworms from grazing in pastures that have tapeworms in the grass and from drinking water that is contaminated with the tapeworms. When Humans eat the meat from these animals raw or not cooked all of the way they become infected with the tapeworms. Humans can also become infected by drinking contaminated water. Generally the symptoms of being infected with these tapeworms in humans is so mild that they are not recognized and can easily be treated, although in some cases it can become very dangerous.

Malaria infection is caused by parasitic protozoan plasmodium. Several species of malaria parasites exist but the most fatal known is plasmodium falciparum. It enters the liver and replicates itself by getting into the red blood cell and ripping its way out when fully matured. It was once thought that the US military got close to completely eradicating the vector mosquito through DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and the parasitic plasmodium with vaccines until they discovered that both are capable of mutating and gained the ability to be resistant to any chemicals scientists could produce (Horizon, 2005).

Parasites are plants or animals that derive benefit from the metabolism of other plants or animals at the expense of the host and without providing some benefit to the host in return.

The lifecycle of a heartworms begins when a female mosquito ingest blood containing microfilariae from a heartworm infected animal. Inside the body of the mosquito, the microfilariae develops into first stage larvae (L1) and then undergoes two more process to develop into third stage larvae (L3) of which is the infective stage. Depending on the temperature, this development process can take between eight and thirty days. At this point, when the infected mosquito attaches to a cat and feeds on its blood, the third-stage larva is transferred into the mosquito bite wound. Within three days of entering the cat, the L3 molt to the L4 stage in the tissues and muscles that lay just below the skin of the cat. After about two months of migrating through the muscles and tissues, the L4 undergoes a final development into immature adult heartworms. Seventy to ninety days post infection, the immature adult heartworms then enter a peripheral vein and are carried by the cat’s blood circulation system to the caudal pulmonary arteries. This is where the majority of heartworms are cleared from the cat due to a mass immune response, but a few may continue development into adults. Once the heartworm develop into adults, they invade the heart first and then spread to other organs in the body and cause

In addition to causing a problem with the snail population, the New Guinea Flatworm is also bringing a massive problem into the U.S. that deeply affects humans. This problem is a parasite called the rat lungworm, which New Guinea Flatworms carry. These parasites burrow into the brain and can be spread to humans. The symptoms of those infected with rat lungworm are muscle aches and light sensitivity, but most people recover without ever knowing what

This worm has other things it can eat as well. The one thing this worm loves to eat is the snail eggs it finds when it attaches itself to the bottom of the cabbage leaves and when it is searching for it's prey as well. Many scientists have said that the new guinea flatworm is one of the fifteen tenth largest dangerous and threatening invasion on the united states. They say it continues to grow even this year as well. It fact many people say that when it starts to develop the worms never stop growing and developing and continue to grow and grow and take over populations and specific areas in the united states. Many relationships with other species in the worm occur because the worm continues to invade state by state ,county by county or even area by area and it is causing problems everywhere. Another reason the specific species relationships happen is because the worms continue to have offspring and then they will continue to develop and develop. The next reason is the flatworm can carry a parasitic disease that infects rats and can be passed on to

The zombie fungus has mostly been known to control the brains of ants, but don’t manipulate just any type of ant and turn them into zombies (Castro, 2009). These parasitic fungi are able to recognise different types of brains from different ant species and only releases its mind controlling chemical when they find the perfect host that they would like to inhabit in (Castro, 2009). This type of relationship is known as a behavioural manipulation which is a complex characteristic that is a close coevolution normally between the pathogen and its host (Castro, 2009). These zombie fungus like to use carpenter ants as their host due to many abiotic and biotic factors which these ants are able to provide for the survival of these fungi (Life Science

Armyworms are stout bodied, hairless, striped caterpillars that chew the foliage of grasses and grain crops. Armyworms favorite food is corn and small grains, but they will occasionally feed on turf grasses. In this essay I argue that humans should take action regarding invasive species because many areas don't have enough food as is the case with the Armyworms.

Have you ever seen a bee acting weird? They act weird because of parasites.The authors propose of writing this article is to inform the readers about ants turning “zombie-like” before they die and how they get infected. In the article, it states “Dr. hafernik first discovered something eerie was happening to the bees on his campus in 2008 when he stumbled upon several of them staggering in circles along the sidewalk. For weeks he picked up a few of them in a glass vial with plants to feed his pet praying mantis. One day he came across a vial he had forgotten on his desk for a couple of weeks. The bees inside were dead, but the vial was overwhelmed with small brown fly pupae. He came to the conclusion that the bees were parasites.” This evidence

To determine the effect that a surface has on the speed and difficulty of mealworm travel.

"I don't think that the dead larvae in the blood samples were due to maturation. What if the larvae actually feed on the brain’s iron, purposely depleting it in order to create the restless leg syndrome? This would give the flatworm's host the ability of motion. At this point, it would just have to compel the individual to attack and bite."

Recent studies, most notably Gbaye et al. (2011, 2012), have investigated the sensitivity of bean beetles in the genus Callosobruchus to organophosphate insecticides (OPs). Economically this is important work given that these beetles are pests that threaten agricultural yields of legumes. OPs work by inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinerase (AChE) in the beetles. Without this enzyme, the neurotransmitter acetylcholine can't be broken down and its overflow leads to the eventual death of the beetle. Results obtained by

It doesn’t have to be that way. There are alternatives to consider using. One of them is to use other insects. Shimon Steinberg is a chief scientist at Bio-Bee, and his mission is to replace pesticides with plant-friendly, pest-consuming insects. According to Steinberg from his Ted Talk segment, And here comes the salvation, through this parasitic wasp. Here we are not talking about a predator.Here we are talking a parasite -- not a two-legged parasite, but an eight-legged parasite, of course.This is a parasitic wasp, again, two millimeters long, slender, a very quick and sharp flier. And here you can see this parasite in action, like in an acrobatic maneuver. She stands vis-à-vis in front of the victim at the right-hand side, bending its abdomen

Of the many diseases spread by insects, none are actually caused by the insects themselves but by other organisms passed on when they feed or bite. Insects are capable of spreading diseases caused by many different types of microorganisms including bacteria, viruses, protozoan and others. Mosquitoes have earned the title of "the most deadly creature on earth." This is due to the fact that they spread serious epidemic diseases such as Malaria, Yellow Fever, African Sleeping Sickness, and West Nile Virus.