Fifteen newly discovered fungi can all control the brains of ants in cruel and unusual ways in the moments before killing them.
Zombie ant fungi are parasites, mostly found in tropical forests. The fungus first infects an ant using spores. Once inside its host, the fungus alters the ant鈥檚 behaviour in ways that favour its own reproduction. It often compels the ant to seek a place other ants are likely to pass. The fungus then sprouts a long stalk, sometimes right through the back of the ant鈥檚 head, which passes on more infectious spores.
鈥淏esides their beauty, it鈥檚 striking how these fungi evolved and are so well adapted morphologically and ecologically to infect their hosts,鈥� says at Pennsylvania State University in University Park.
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Ara煤jo and his colleagues have now described 15 new species of zombie ant fungus from the Brazilian Amazon, Japan, Australia, Colombia and the US. They were collected by Ara煤jo or by travelling colleagues.
Mind control
The 15 new species include fungi that force ants to bite into tree trunks, plant stalks or leaves before dying.
One fungus called Ophiocordyceps blakebarnesii is found in Missouri and infects a species of carpenter ant. These ants build their nests in galleries and tunnels inside dead logs. The fungus compels the ant to die after biting into the wood inside a dead log. There, the fungus can infect a new victim while staying sheltered from the elements.
In the Brazilian Amazon, Ophiocordyceps monacidis forces an odorous ant () to die under a type of moss. The fungus mimics the moss鈥檚 reproductive organs with its spore-spitting stalks. Ara煤jo isn鈥檛 sure exactly why it does this.
Learning more about the diversity of zombie ant fungi will help us understand how these sinister parasites evolved, says Ara煤jo. What鈥檚 more, parasites like these might one day be used to control agricultural pests.
Studies in Mycology
