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Posted by Corso on November 7, 2009, 6:32 pm, in reply to "Re: [OT?] parasites curiosity"
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beside fishy puns (which should be illegal in most countries) here another one.
Ants do their best to avoid being eaten. Their dark coloring can help them camouflaging with the environment and can prevent a predator to spot a single one among the others. But for a parasite searching for a way to return inside a hosting bird, this kind of camouflage needs few fixes.
The nematode parasite Myrmeconema neotropicum makes a portion of the belly of the Cephalotes atratus ants red like some berries which are eaten by birds and pushes the infected host to leave the colony, so that can become an easy prey. When the victim is eaten by the bird, this one becomes infected by the parasite. After digestion, the bird spread the parasite in its excrement, which wait to infect more oblivious ants.
Corso.
Sharky said so =P
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