Suicide Grasshoppers Brainwashed by Parasite Worms:
Scientists say hairworms, which live inside grasshoppers, pump the insects with a cocktail of chemicals that makes them commit suicide by leaping into water. The parasites then swim away from their drowning hosts to continue their life cycle.
More examples of parasite mind-control:
Loxdale hadn’t previously heard of a parasite that drives an insect to suicide. But he draws parallels with a fungus that attacks hoverflies (stingless flies that resemble honeybees.)“The hoverflies very conveniently die on the top of grass stems, which maybe makes the transmission of fungal spores easier,” he said. “The spores penetrate the insect cuticle [skin] then grow inside the insect and quickly kill it.”
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For example, a type of parasitic flatworm targets cockles in New Zealand, driving the marine mollusks to the surfaces of muddy bottoms in shallow waters. There, oystercatcher birds snap the cockles up and eat them, flatworms and all. The shorebirds serve as the final hosts in the flatworms’ complex life cycle.“Parasitic wasps can also make the host weave a special cocoon-like structure to protect the wasp pupae [offspring] against heavy rain,” Thomas added.
(Hat tip to GeekPress.)