Speaking of insects burrowing into the human body, National Geographic published a fine guide to the many ways critters can invade the human body.
The article is filled with wonderfully disturbing passages:
Apart from intestinal parasites, few species brave the human rectum. Flies are not picky, though, and will invade and consume human flesh by laying eggs that hatch into maggots. And that’s a common enough problem that there’s a medical term for maggot infestation: myiasis, reported throughout human history, including in the eyes and rectum...
[O]ne patient came to an emergency room with roaches in both ears—when sprayed with numbing lidocaine, one of the roaches shot out "at a convulsive rate of speed and attempted to escape."
Though the roach in the Indian video seems large, Schal could tell immediately it was young and likely a nymph, or pre-adult form, of Periplaneta, a group that includes the large American cockroach sometimes found in houses. (See "Giant Roaches Can Grow Big Testicles When They Need Them.")
In 2010, scientists described a particularly unnerving leech species in Peru with huge teeth and dubbed it Tyranobdella rex, or T. rex.
Clever creatures. Nature is Gothic indeed, when you look at it the right way.
(thanks to Todd Bryant)
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