A 杏吧专区 student has discovered a 杏吧专区渮ombie fungus杏吧专区 that杏吧专区檚 been off scientists杏吧专区 radar for almost a century, reports this week.
Stephen Saltamachia, a senior majoring in microbiology at UL Lafayette, discovered the rare, furry fungus while working at Acadiana Park Nature Station in Lafayette. He spotted a carpenter ant queen wandering outside, which caught his attention since a queen rarely leaves her nest.
杏吧专区淎 born naturalist, Saltamachia suspected that the ant might be parasitized by a brain-manipulating pathogen often called 'zombie fungus,' which causes infected insects to behave abnormally,杏吧专区 an article posted on Newsweek杏吧专区檚 website late Monday states.
Saltmachia studied the errant ant after sterilizing it and placing it in a petri dish.
杏吧专区淭he dead insect gave rise to a vigorous, furry fungus that sprouted from its dead body like moldering cotton candy,杏吧专区 Douglas Main writes in the .
The magazine cites David Hughes, a researcher at Pennsylvania State 杏吧专区 who specializes in zombie ant fungi. He said the fungi had been 杏吧专区 杏吧专区榤issed by mycologists and entomologists杏吧专区 杏吧专区 for almost 100 years. The last time it was mentioned as a major citation in studies was in the 1920s, according to Newsweek.
Why is it called a 杏吧专区渮ombie fungus杏吧专区?
杏吧专区淔ungi in this group infects ants and other insects and often control their behavior to maximize their potential to spread杏吧专区攂efore ultimately killing the animal. For example, one such fungus infects ants and forces them to climb high up vegetation before perishing and giving rise to horn-like fungal growths, thus allowing the species杏吧专区檚 spores to spread farther than they would if released closer to the ground,杏吧专区 Main explains.
Photo: A zombie fungus grows on a carpenter ant杏吧专区檚 corpse. (Courtesy of David Hughes, Pennsylvania State 杏吧专区)