[High Praise! to Les of Nuking Politics for the inspiration on this]

One of these disgusting parasites is named after President Obama. You’ll have to follow the links to find out which:

The New World Screwworm is an obligate parasite of animals and is a unique brand of pest in Central and South America where it infects the wounds and mucous membranes of cattle, sheep and horses. Female adult flies lay their eggs and in 8 to 15 hours the 2-centimeter length larva hatch forth causing excruciating pain and itchiness. The larva’s body shape is encircled by bristly ridges along the length of its body, resembling a fat, white screw used to burrow into living flesh.

Nematomorphs, sometimes called hairworms, are parasites that live inside arthropods as larvae, but then exist as free-living aquatic adults. They often induce suicide in their insect hosts, by causing them to jump into water, where the worms then escape (see this previous post for another example). The adults typically seek out the opposite sex and can form “Gordian knots” of mating worms. Today’s species, however, is found in larger and faster-moving waters – and in these big, complicated habitats, finding a suitable mate can be really tricky. So, today’s parasite has solved this problem through the evolution of parthenogenesis. This particular species of nematomorph has completely given up on males. When brought into the lab, it only released female worms and nowhere inside these stringy parasites could male reproductive organs be found.