Fig. 2. Schematic representation of nematomorphs' life cycle in the wild: (a) infected invertebrates are manipulated by adult nematomorphs living in their hemocoel, which induce the hosts to jump into a watershed; (b) adult worms escape from drowning hosts, find a partner, and mate producing eggs; (c) over 7‾14 days eggs develop into semi-sessile larvae; (d) larvae encyst into aquatic immature stages of insects such as mayflies; (e) cysts survive insect metamorphosis, and remain viable even when the insect dies; when the insect is eaten by a predator, or when its dead body is consumed by a scavenger, cysts are transmitted; in the right host, they eventually mature into adults, closing the cycle (a). Figure redrawn from Hanelt et al. (2005).

Published as part of Strona, Giovanni, 2017, Why do nematomorphs leave their hosts?, pp. 226-228 in International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 6 (3) on page 227, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2017.07.004, http://zenodo.org/record/13004280