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Ant parasite turns host into ripe red berry, biologists discover

Parasites occasionally change the behavior or looks of their host, but a nasty tropical nematode alters both, making its ant host's parasite-filled abdomen resemble a ripe red berry. According to UC Berkeley and University of Arkansas biologists, this behavior is a strategy the nematode evolved to entice birds to eat the ant's abdomen and spread the parasite in their droppings.

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