Inconclusive sighting
Can you identify this sighting?
Identify this sighting
Comments from moderator
Thanks for the ID Roger We aren’t able to process worms, leaches and molluscs at the moment - something for the future.| Insufficient or inconclusive evidence | MichaelBedingfield | 1 Jan 2019 | |
| Nematomorpha sp | RogerF | 1 Jan 2019 | |
| Unverified | WindyHen | 1 Jan 2019 |
Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.
User's notes
Horsehair worm found in kitchen sink.
2 comments
1 Jan 2019
If my ID is correct, this 'Nematomorpha 'worm' is a parasite of various insects especially grasshoppers and crickets. The order is allied to Nematoda. They have a remarkable life cycle. One study has shown that the mature worm induces its host to seek water and jump in whereupon the worm emerges and seeks a mate. Hence finding the worm in the sink! The mating worms form knots hence their alternative name gordian worms. The females produce numerous eggs which hatch to produce larvae which infect an alternative aquatic host. This needs to emerge from water and be consumed by a cricket or grasshopper to continue the cycle. In grasshoppers that live far from water a slightly different life cycle must operate but is as yet unknown. Other species are free-living.
They occasionally parasitise humans!!
There does not yet appear to be a category for "worms".
They occasionally parasitise humans!!
There does not yet appear to be a category for "worms".
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- WindyHen Recorded by
Collections
Record quality
Quality score
3 / 7
- Images or audio
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- Additional attributes