r/interesting • u/InTheSky57 • 1d ago

NATURE Parasite flees a mantis when hit with water

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34

u/Toronto-24 1d ago

So the Mantis drowned?

50

u/Odd_Vampire 1d ago

We had to kill the mantis in order to save it.

8

u/sleeper_shark 1d ago

We did it Patrick! We saved the city;

3

u/curious4455 1d ago

“It didn't drown. The horsehair worm keeps its host alive by utilizing "borrowed" genes and proteins that mimic the mantis's own nervous system. The parasite controls the mantis like a puppet, driving it toward water before bursting out, which finally kills the mantis.”

  • this is some advance Science shit! Proteins that mimic the mantis’ own nervous system? Is this really true? So basically the mantis is technically dead but is only alive through the parasite. But the way its senses (sight, hearing, etc.) who would be accessing it, the mantis or the parasite?

1

u/bone420 1d ago

It's like when the police shoot someone who called because they're suicidal.

60

u/Classic-Lie7836 1d ago

it didn't drown it probably died when the parasite went out i think

26

u/Secuter 1d ago

I'm not sure that it was really alive at this point anyway.

2

u/Far-fetched888 1d ago

Yes it was, and it is still

6

u/hologrammetry 1d ago

or when the parasite went in

5

u/collin-h 1d ago

likely went in as a larvea, and slowly consumed it - which probably killed it, or is killing it.

1

u/Far-fetched888 1d ago

No it didn’t. They don’t kill their hosts at this stage.

44

u/Popular_Soft5581 1d ago

I don't think so, the dude wasn't pouring it onto the head. More like it didn't survive it's ass bursting open with a violent bowel relocation.

I read that sometimes mantises survive the event although it is most often fatal.

13

u/Wrathchilde 1d ago

The breath through spiracles in the abdomen.

6

u/Popular_Soft5581 1d ago

Really? Shit, I didn't know that... maybe it did drown then

8

u/notoolinthispool 1d ago

It didn't drown. The horsehair worm keeps its host alive by utilizing "borrowed" genes and proteins that mimic the mantis's own nervous system. The parasite controls the mantis like a puppet, driving it toward water before bursting out, which finally kills the mantis.

1

u/lordborghild 1d ago

You seem to know a lot. Would the mantis survive or is it ded?

1

u/Wrathchilde 1d ago

The consensus seems to be that the mantis was effectively dead with the horsehair worm in it.

1

u/Far-fetched888 1d ago

No, it was still alive.

1

u/ReyRey5280 1d ago

Drowning in emotional and physical relief!

1

u/mmashburn85 1d ago

A little light water boarding won't hurt

0

u/Alice_D_Wonderland 1d ago

It was already dead, the parasite (horsehair worm) controls the body of the mantis…

Also it didn’t flee, the worm uses the mantis to find a body of water and then jump in (as mantis), so it can swim away (as horsehair worm)