Guys! Guys! Look at all these worms! It’s the first time i’ve ever seen this. These brig
Guys! Guys! Look at all these worms! It’s the first time i’ve ever seen this. These bright orange worms underneath the skin of this Warty chameleon are Foleyella furcata. It is a filarial parasite that attacks chameleons (and some lizards in the lacerta family)The adults live just beneath the skin, having babies that make their way into the blood vessels. The babies (called microfilaria) are then picked up by mosquitoes, ticks and other blood sucking insects. The insects do not merely transport them to new hosts. Like kids going off to college, the larva actually need to spend some time inside the mosquito, mature and learning new things. Males are much smaller than females so you can easily tell the different sexes in the photo. These guys are so cool. The color in these guys is incredible, and yet they live their entire lives in darkness, hidden away beneath the skin.When I was doing this dissection, It was really interesting to note that the number of females far outnumbered the males, something like four females for every male. Females are found everywhere underneath the skin, whereas the males seem associated with clusters of females. -- source link
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