Castration followed by involuntary simulated chemsex. That鈥檚 the fate that awaits cicadas infected by the Massospora fungus, according to researchers who discovered psychoactive compounds in fungal growths in the stricken insects.
Massospora infections are associated with 鈥渉ypersexual鈥� activity 鈥� including cases in which, for example, males may attempt to mate with other males. This appears to help spread the fungus to new hosts.
But the fungus makes these forays a miserable venture. When infected cicadas first try to mate, the end of their abdomens, including genitalia, are often pulled off. This abdominal mass is replaced by a large fungal 鈥減lug鈥�.
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After analysing 56 of these plugs, Matt Kasson at West Virginia University听 and his colleagues found one of three alkaloids in around half of them: an amphetamine, and psilocybin or psilocin, the active ingredients of magic mushrooms.
Go all night
It鈥檚 not clear exactly what function these alkaloids play but it is听plausible that they help improve the insects鈥� endurance as they embark on their fungus-fuelled sex sprees,听says Charissa de Bekker at the University of Central Florida. She and colleagues have shown that Ophiocordyceps fungal infections in ants secrete LSD-like compounds.
Despite losing large parts of their bodies, the infected cicadas were conspicuously active and mobile when collected, says Kasson.
鈥淲e used amphetamines with soldiers in WWII and other conflicts 鈥� they give you energy despite your reduced strength,鈥� he says.
However, it鈥檚 still unclear what induces the compulsion to mate in the cicadas. It could be a hormonal response to the compounds, but more research will have to be done to find out.
Kasson says he has already been asked whether eating the infected cicadas could induce a high in humans.
鈥淚t would probably take quite a number of cicadas to do that,鈥� he says. Besides not being particularly appetising in the first place, he adds that other compounds in the fungus-laden insects could make such an activity dangerous.
Reference: Bioarxiv,
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