To reach passing beetles, parasitic worms congregate into towers up to 30 times taller than an individual.

Hans-Joachim Knölker at the Dresden University of Technology in Germany, Teymuras Kurzchalia at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, and their team found that juvenile Pristionchus pacificus secrete a waxy substance, dubbed nematoil by the authors, that functions as an adhesive between animals. This allows them to form towers with up to 1,000 individuals, reaching as high as 1 centimetre, which can attach to a host.

Nature Chem. Bio. http://doi.org/rqt (2014)