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Name : Green - band broodsac ( Leucochloridium paradoxum )
Where it last : Europe , North America and Japan
An amber snail infected with the green-banded broodsac (Leucochloridium paradoxum) parasite.
What it eats : Waste in the digestive parcel of land of boo , before it is pass
Why it ’s awesome : This parasitic platyhelminth is comfortably make love for creating disco zombies : It shoot over the bodies of amber snails ( Succinea ) by clambering into their eyestalks and forcing them to dance to attract birds ' care .
A snail first comes into contact withL. paradoxumvia bird muck , which contain the testis of the green - banded broodsac . Upon hatching , the larvae move to the tentacle of the snail and create a sac . As this matures , it grow and interchange the eyestalk of the escargot , efficaciously blinding it and preventing it from draw the tentacle back into its body .
Related : dismay photograph capture moment parasitic fungus burst from huge wanderer ’s body
It also becomes colorful and pulsates ata rate of 60 to 80 contractions per minute , make a disco - similar vibration .
The broodsac also rent over the snail ’s psyche . As aneuroparasite , it infects the queasy system of its mollusk host andcontrols its behaviour . The snail is then ram to go to well - dismount and more - exposed areas , such as the surface of a leaf , where it seem invitingly like a caterpillar to unsuspecting birds .
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Once absorb , the sponge matures into an grownup , mates with other adults and produces eggs that are released into the razzing ’s muck , sound off off the cycle again .
If the escargot is golden , only its tentacle is taken by the dame . In that case , the snail stay unreasoning until the tentacle regrows — mean it can be reinfected and again roleplay as a host for the leech .
