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Malaria Graduation Card
The malaria-causing parasite, Plasmodium , has a complex two-host lifecycle. In both hosts, the parasite must use and migrate through...


Copy of Why would a worm turn an ant into a berry?
Part Three: Untangling the Mystery of Red Gaster Ants By Dr. Kyle Lesack The ability of certain parasites to modify the appearance or...


Copy of Why would a worm turn an ant into a berry?
Part Two: In a Fortuitous Turn of Events By Dr. Kyle Lesack Parasitism of Cephalotes atratus by Myrmeconema neotropicum In a fortuitous...
Why would a worm turn an ant into a berry?
Part One: Introduction to Parasitism and Host Manipulation By Dr. Kyle Lesack Nature provides countless examples of ingenious adaptations...


Dating app
One tongue-eating louse, Cymothoa exigua, was described in our Halloween comic: Free-swimming, juvenile Cymothoa exigua males attach to...


Apicomplexan Fireworks
Toxoplasma gondii is a single-celled parasite that infects animals. Cyst forms wait in the muscle tissue of intermediate hosts to be...


The Zombie Ant
The lancet liver fluke, Dicrocoelium dendriticum, has a three-host lifecycle. Eggs in feces hatch and infect a snail. There, the larvae...


Halloween
Eggs of Leucochloridium paradoxum present in bird droppings hatch and penetrate through the skin of a succineid snail (Succinea spp.,...


A New Understanding
Sacculina carcini parsitizes crabs, mostly the green crab Carcinus maenas (1). It is most commonly found in Europe, but has also been...


Valentine's Day
Diplozoon paradoxum is a flatworm parasite of fish. Eggs hatch and pass through larval stages where they swim to try to find a fish host....
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