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spring trig

Anaxipha vernalis

image of Anaxipha vernalis
Late juvenile with endoparasitic worm that emerged from it, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Photograph by David H. Funk, Stroud Water Research Center, used by permission.

Worms similar to this that emerge from Orthoptera are either mermithids (Nematoda: Mermithidae) or horsehair worms (Nematomorpha). This is a mermithid, and this is University of Florida nematologist Khuong B. Nguyen's advice on how to tell the difference: Place the worm on a glass slide and inspect under a microscope. If you can see through the body with some structures inside (especially at both ends), it is a mermithid. If you cannot see through the body, it is a nematomorph.