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Project Noah Nature School
Mermithidae
Mermithids are parasites, mainly of arthropods. Most are known from insects, but some are recorded from spiders, scorpions and crustaceans. A few are known to parasitize earthworms, leeches and molluscs, and a specimen is known from a spider preserved in forty million-year old Baltic amber. At least 25 species are known to parasitize mosquito larvae, making them of considerable interest in biological control. - from Wikipedia
When you look at my video, you will know why I was scared to see this.
Spotted on Jun 4, 2014
Submitted on Jun 5, 2014
21 Comments
You're welcome Rieko!
Thank you so very much for all of your help, Scott Frazier. It is quite educational and since I found this creature in my place, I am glad to know and aware of all these information. Project Noah is such a great place to be!
Very interesting! But these cases are rare, and species are very few I think. I saw reference made to 3 species from the family, as "pseudoparasites" (of man) in the 2003 reference http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/978... i.e. in this case, accidental parasites, so I don't think you have anything to worry about :-) BTW I moved your spotting to "other" because that's the group for nematodes.
I was afraid of that. Here is what I have found in internet.
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/pre-wholis/W...
Reiko, i believe these can dwell inside a human body?
Thank you so much for your kind comment Lipase. I appreciate it.
Thank you very much for your comment. I changed the common name to "Nematode".
another very cool spotting!
This is a very cool spotting! For "common name" I suggest simply "nematode".
@ChunXingWong: "Cute"? I was terrified by this. I am not as brave as you are ;-)
Thank you very much Rosa Maria. I am now glad that I posted this.
Aww... it's so cute.
Nice! Very interesting.
I am not certain, but I would say about 6".
About how long is it Rieko? I hope I don't have anything like this around me!
Thank you very much beaker98. This was something I did not want to see, but since I saw it, I had to share.
That's amazing Rieko! Great find!
@ Gilma Jeannette Ospino Ferreira-Norman: I did not mean to disturb you.
I posted this as warning/preparation for someone who might see it for the first time.
WOW!! It is a bit disturbing but very interesting for sure!! Thank you for sharing, RiekoS
@Sckel: This was my very first time seen this and I was terrified. I hope this is a useful one, not harmful to us.
very nice. I had never seen it. Thanks for sharing the video