Warning: This is the nastiest thing you’ll see today.
1. An unidentified guy had quite the disturbing experience after he stepped on a cockroach-like bug.
2. After stepping on it, something that resembled a worm crawled out of the insect. And the long, twisty creature just kept moving as it attempted to separate itself from its crushed home.
5. The parasite, also known as the horsehair worm, gets inside of insects like cockroaches, grasshoppers, and crickets in order to consume their nutrients until the victim becomes brainwashed and commits suicide.
Basically, the larva of the worm will get eaten by the larvae of other insects, like mosquitos, who then get eaten by bigger insects, like crickets. Then, the horsehair worm will “penetrate through the gut of the cricket and get into the body cavity, where they then grow from a tiny, tiny larva to something that’s now on the average of a foot long,” parasitologist Ben Hanelt of the University of New Mexico told Wired.
Hugh Loxdale, president of the London-based Royal Entomological Society, told National Geographic it’s “one of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen,” adding that “It makes the science fiction film Alien look pretty tame in comparison.”
6. And guess what? The parasites have even been known to infect humans.
In 2009, both an 80-year-old woman and a 1-year-old boy in Japan were found to have been infected.
8. Disgusting, yes, but also a reminder of how amazing/insane nature can be.
correction
This post has been edited to remove some information that was related to a similar but different creepy creature. Thanks to commenters for pointing it out! BF_STATIC.timequeue.push(function () { document.getElementById(“update_article_correction_time_4699405”).innerHTML = UI.dateFormat.get_formatted_date(‘2015-01-17 14:06:07 -0500’, ‘update’); });
Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/agustinacaferri/this-guy-stepped-on-a-bug-and-revealed-something-totally-gro
