Tag: Parasite
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126/150: Platyhelminthes – A diverse group of parasites and regenerators!
Animalia: Platyhelminthes Claus, 1887 Platyhelminthes, also known as flatworms, are an extremely successful phylum with around 25,000 known species. Most of the classes are parasites with only the class Turbellaria being mostly non-parasitic. Platyhelminthes are extremely diverse and are well known predators. They can be found parasitizing many different animals, but of particular concern to…
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104/150: Feeling crabby about pubic lice?
Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Psocodea: Pthiridae: Pthirus: Pthirus pubis (Linnaeus, 1758) Humans host three types of lice, which are wingless and unable to jump so they spend their entire lifecycle on the host. The pubic louse, a blood sucking parasite that lives exclusively on humans, can thrive anywhere on the body with coarse hair, such as…
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89/150: Bizarre parenting brought to you by the Bot Fly
Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Diptera: Oestridae: Cuterebra: Cuterebra fontinella (Clark, 1827) Nothing says parenting like leaving your young in the flesh of mammals to grow up. Members of the genus Cuterebra can be found parasitizing different hosts, but they all share the same process of parasitism. Adult bot flies are non-feeding with vestigial mouthparts that evolution…
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83/150: Giving birth to live larvae through a hole in their head: The life cycle of the Twisted Wing Parasite
Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Strepsiptera: Elenchidae: Elenchus: Elenchus tenuicornis (Kirby, 1815) The Strepsiptera, or “twisted wing parasites” is a small insect order consisting of about 600 species in 9 extant families. Hosts are typically Hymenopterans (bees & wasps), but also include Orthopterans (grasshoppers & crickets) and Hemipterans (stink bugs and leafhoppers).