Researchers have revealed that praying mantis (mantids) infected with parasitic hairworms are attracted to horizontally polarized light that is strongly reflected off the surface of water, which ...

The interaction between parasites and their hosts can be gruesome: They manipulate, invade and terrorize their unsuspecting hosts, often killing them in the process. From mind-controlling organisms to ...

Chordodes horse hairworms use mantids as definitive hosts. After maturing in the mantids, they manipulate their hosts to enter water bodies where the parasites reproduce. Disclaimer: AAAS and ...

A research team has discovered that parasites manipulate their hosts using stolen genes that they likely acquired through a phenomenon called horizontal gene transfer. A team led by Tappei Mishina at ...