Man-eating maggots! A sequel to our Brazilian trip

[Anderoo]

Oh god, that's horrible! That's it, I'm never leaving Oxfordshire again!

[certhia]

.....collecting species of tropical parasite........

 

Well, Dermatobia hominis is a new species for the family list... but its quite a long list already:

 

Leeches from Australia, Malaysia, Madagascar and Assam

Ticks from Ireland, Australia and Colorado

Sand flies from Australia

Chiggers from Venezuela, Belize, Costa Rica

Blood sucking mosquitos almost everywhere south of Dover and of course, midges anywhere to the north

 

I often feel that we must be received by the wildlife in foreign parts like an exotic take-away being delivered to your swim at Wingham.

[Vagabond]

Yeh, add to that non-parasites such as bees, hornets, wasps and ants - which aren't out to drink your blood, but just bite or sting out of spite.

 

Tracking the birds that feed on things disturbed by South American ant-swarms sometimes brings one into contact with the fearsome Army Ant.

 

the last one that bit me evidently held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or above

 

...and not forgetting the bee that settled on my head on whilst I was walking a jungle trail in Thailand. It was quite happy merely to sting my scalp, but the ever-helpful Certhia, two paces behind, decided to flatten it first, and drove the sting well into my skull.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Vagabond

[Steve Walker]

Hmm, I think you will have to go some to top the bot fly maggot. Ectoparasitic arthropods just aren't exotic or disgusting enough to beat that.

 

Have you considerered Dracunculus medinensis?

[Steve Burke]

A nasty story with a happy ending. It's a good job it's not the sort of critter that lays eggs!

[Tony U]

Vagabond

I think you got of lighly as some rodent-infesting botflies consume the host's testes. OUCH!!

Edited January 10, 2013 by Tony U

[certhia]

  On 1/9/2013 at 4:50 PM, Steve Walker said:

Have you considerered Dracunculus medinensis?

 

Ooooo, Having read up on that one, I won't grumble about the cost and inconvenience of using bottled water, ever again.

[lutra]

In the words of Lutra junior "thats minggin".