Any individual organism belonging to the acanthocephala phylum of parasitic spiny-headed worms.
From Greek 'akantha' (thorn/spine) + 'kephale' (head) + '-an' (individual organism or member). The suffix creates a singular form from the phylum name.
Scientists discovered that these worms can actually manipulate their host's behavior—they're like tiny puppet masters using chemistry to control creatures much larger than themselves!
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