Horsehair Worm

Freshwater environments like streams, ponds, and water troughs; adults are aquatic, larvae are terrestrial parasites.

Larvae are parasites of insects (crickets, grasshoppers, beetles); adults do not eat and live only to reproduce.

Larvae develop inside a host insect and manipulate the host's behavior to find water. Once the host enters water, the adult worm emerges. They are often found knotted together in 'Gordian knots' during mating.

Non-toxic and harmless to humans, pets, and plants. They are beneficial to the ecosystem as they help control populations of glasshoppers and crickets.