#roundworms — Public Fediverse posts

Rare #fossil embryos show early #Ecdysozoa development in #Cambrian era https://phys.org/news/2024-12-rare-fossil-embryos-early-ecdysozoa.html paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018224006242

"it suggests a bag-shaped body is likely primitive for #ecdysozoans (a diverse group of #animals including #roundworms, velvet #worms, #insects, and #crabs), while a vermiform body, characteristic of crown-group ecdysozoans, evolved later."

The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-world-of-electrostatic-ecology-20240930/

"Invisibly to us, #insects and other tiny creatures use #StaticElectricity to travel, avoid predators, collect pollen and more... #ticks and #roundworms hitch rides on electric fields generated by larger animal hosts. In a behavior known as ballooning, #spiders take flight by extending a silk thread to catch charges in the sky... static attracts #pollen to #butterflies and #moths, and may help #caterpillars to evade predators"

Tiny #roundworms carve out unique parasitic niche inside #pseudoscorpion's protective covering https://phys.org/news/2024-06-tiny-roundworms-unique-parasitic-niche.html

Ectoparasitic nematodes developing in the integument of a Baltic amber pseudoscorpion https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2024.2341848

"In a parasitic first, a Baltic #amber specimen has revealed that millions of years ago, tiny worms known as #nematodes were living inside of and feeding on the outer protective layer of #pseudoscorpions."

With discovery of #roundworms, Great Salt Lake's imperiled ecosystem gets more interesting
https://phys.org/news/2024-03-discovery-roundworms-great-salt-lake.html

Newly identified #nematodes from the #GreatSaltLake are associated with #microbialites and specially adapted to #hypersaline conditions: Julie Jung et al. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.2653

"they discovered thousands of tiny #worms in the lake's microbialites, those reef-like structures that cover about a fifth of the lakebed."

Funnel web spiders, box jellyfish, and now I read this:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/28/live-worm-living-womans-brain-australia-depression-forgetfulness

I think I might be too scared to visit Australia!

#Australia #roundworms

#Amber reveals #evolution of #parasitism of nematodes https://phys.org/news/2023-07-amber-reveals-evolution-parasitism-nematodes.html

Widespread mermithid nematode parasitism of Cretaceous #insects https://elifesciences.org/articles/86283

"#Nematodes (#roundworms) are distributed worldwide in almost all habitats. The #Mermithidae, a family of nematodes larger than others, are obligate #invertebrate #parasites... 16 new #mermithids associated with their #insect hosts were described, including nine new species, which triples the diversity of #Cretaceous Mermithidae"

A new tool called TARDIS could help researchers build larger and more diverse populations of genetically modified #roundworms and potentially other laboratory animals. https://elifesciences.org/digests/84831/editing-the-genome-with-tardis?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

Give #roundworms some weed and they’ll get the munchies, study finds
Work could further our understanding of #endocannabinoid system, help drug development.
C. elegans, also experiences the munchies when dosed with #cannabinoids, according to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology. We suspect it's not a coincidence that the paper was released on April 20.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/give-a-roundworm-some-weed-and-hell-get-the-munchies-study-finds/