![]() Amazingly enough, the long horsehair worm that I watched on my kitchen floor, grew and developed inside the body cavity of this cricket. The worm absorbs nutrients directly through the body wall. The cyst covering dissolves inside the insect gut which allows the juvenile worm to bore through the gut wall and into the body cavity of the host. Shortly after they hatch, it is thought that the larvae encyst on vegetation near the water's edge and later the vegetation is eaten by a grasshopper or cricket. Eggs hatch into 0.01-inch larvae that do not resemble the adults. The female lays millions of eggs in long strings that wrap around water plants. Male and female horsehair worms mate in freshwater or damp soil. This behavior allows the horsehair worm to emerge from the insect's body and swim away in the water–an essential step in completing its life cycle. Parasitized crickets seek water because they are thirsty. The adult horsehair worms are free-living in fresh water and damp soil. They may also be found on damp garden soil after a rain. Horsehair worms are also found in streams and ponds and in domestic water containers such as bird baths, swimming pools, backyard ponds and pet dishes. We've received calls from people reporting horsehair worms "swimming" in the toilet bowl after emerging from a cricket that had been tossed into the toilet. People sometimes find them after stepping on a cricket. Horsehair worms are active and often observed during late summer or fall months. Horsehair worms are internal parasites of crickets and other insects like grasshoppers, cockroaches and beetles. Color usually ranges from tan to dark brown, although yellow and black worms also occur. Horsehair worms are about the width of dental floss and very long (four to 14 inches). In fact, people once thought that they arose spontaneously from the hairs of a horse's tail. Horsehair worms are threadlike roundworms that get their name because they resemble the hair of a horse's tail or mane. By Barb Ogg, Ph.D., UNL Extension Educator, Emeritus
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