Hair Worms: Nematomorpha

Adult hair worms that live in insects emerge from their hosts in late spring or summer. Some species mate immediately, but others wait a few months. After mating, females lay as many as six million eggs and then die. The worm larvae (LAR-vee) hatch from the eggs and bore into the larvae of water flies. When these larvae transform into adults, they fly to land, taking the hair worm larvae with them. The crickets and beetles and crabs and shrimp are infected when they eat flies containing hair worm larvae.