And its body belongs to ophiocordyceps unilateralis the zombie ant fungus. Typically ophiocordyceps unilateralis infect a specific species of ants known as carpenter ants camponotus leonardi.
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Researchers think the fungus found in tropical forests infects a foraging ant through spores that attach and penetrate the exoskeleton and slowly takes over its behavior.
Cordyceps fungus ants. The most terrifying fungus youve ever seen. Over the course of a week it compels the ant to leave the safety of its nest and ascend a nearby plant stem. A carpenter ant infected with a zombie ant fungus in the genus ophiocordyceps.
Eventually the fungus grows out of the ants body and releases spores into the air. Cordyceps fungus and zombie ants in the fossil record ive previously posted this david attenborough segment about how cordyceps infects the brains of ants and other insects and influences their behavior. This marauder ant polyrhachis armata succumbed to the fungus just as the carpenter ants in the penn state study did.
In this particular phase infected ants are found under the leaves of tropical rainforest plants with thread like fungal tissue growing from the back of their heads. Theres a different species of cordyceps fungus for each type of host. Once the fungus kills its hapless drone it grows a spore releasing stalk from the ants head in order to infect more ants.
Unilateralis infects ants of the camponotini tribe with the full pathogenesis being characterized by alteration of the behavioral patterns of the infected ant. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is an insect pathogenic fungus discovered by the british naturalist alfred russel wallace in 1859 and currently found predominantly in tropical forest ecosystems. Im reposting now because of a discovery reported in biology letters fossil evidence of this fungusant interaction.
When the fungus infects a carpenter ant it grows through the insects body draining it of nutrients and hijacking its mind. Source the cycle leading to death certain death comes to any ant that is selected for infection. Fungal cells in the ants head release chemicals that hijack the insects central nervous system.
The ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus has just one goal. The ant then attaches its mandibles to the leaf or stem so it cannot move and then simply waits to die. In this case once the ant is infected the cordyceps causes it to climb up to the top of a plant.
Ants that are infected with the ophiocordyceps unilateralis sensu lato fungus are directed in the late stages of the growth of the parasite to bite down on a leaf or limb which ends with the death of the host.
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