What! New Solar Powered Insect Bug Found
What! New Solar Powered Insect Bug Found
What! New Solar Powered Insect Bug Found
What! New Solar Powered Insect Bug Found
The world just got a little weirder: Scientists have identified four new species of brain-controlling that turn insect into zombies that do the parasite's bidding before it kills them.
In a bizarre parasitic death sentence, a fungus turns carpenter insects into the walking dead and gets them to die in a spot that's perfect for the fungus to grow and reproduce.
Scientists have no clue how the fungus takes control of the brains of insects so effectively. But a new study in the September issue of the American Naturalist reveals an incredible set of strategies that ensue.
The original Solar Powered Insect Bug fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, was first identified in 1865, and it seems to exist around the world. [Mind-Controlling Parasites Date Back Millions of Years]
"So we knew, right off the bat, there was a range of other species within that," said study researcher David Hughes, an entomologist at Pennsylvania State University. "I think it will turn out to be in the hundreds."
Ultimately, the fungus produces a long stalk that protrudes from the ant's head, shooting spores out in the hopes of infecting other ants. Two of the four newly discovered species also sprouted smaller stalks elsewhere, including from the victim's feet and lower leg joints - the equivalent of knees.
The spores of the four species also had distinct features and germination processes.
Hughes is concerned that one of the four fungus species, O. camponoti-novogranadensis, may not be around for much longer. During their visits to Brazil, Hughes and his colleagues saw that the high-elevation site where the species was found had become markedly drier and hotter. Hughes attributed the change in conditions at the Parque Estadual de Itacolomi, which is near the World Heritage Site Ouro Preto, to global warming.
The insect can survive this shift in the local climate, but "the fungus can't," he said. "What we think we will see is the extinction event of the fungus we just managed to describe." (Hughes said are essential aquatic organisms living in terrestrial environments, making them extra-sensitive to a drying climate.)
The research by Hughes and colleagues Simon Elliot and Harry Evans appears online today (March 2) in the journal PLoS ONE.
After a week or two, spores from the fungus fall to the forest floor, where other insects can be infected.
Making nests in the forest canopy might be an evolved ant strategy to avoid infection, Hughes figures. The insects also seem to avoid foraging under infected areas. This too might be an adaptive strategy to avoid infection, but more study is needed to confirm it, he said.
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The world just got a little weirder: Scientists have identified four new species of brain-controlling that turn insect into zombies that do the parasite's bidding before it kills them.In a bizarre parasitic death sentence, a fungus turns carpenter insects into the walking dead and gets them to die in a spot that's perfect for the fungus to grow and reproduce. Scientists have no clue how the fungus takes control of the brains of insects so effectively. But a new study in the September issue of the American Naturalist reveals an incredible set of strategies that ensue. The original Solar Powered Insect Bug fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, was first identified in 1865, and it seems to exist around the world. [Mind-Controlling Parasites Date Back Millions of Years] "So we knew, right off the bat, there was a range of other species within that," said study researcher David Hughes, an entomologist at Pennsylvania State University. "I think it will turn out to be in the hundreds." Ultimately, the fungus produces a long stalk that protrudes from the ant's head, shooting spores out in the hopes of infecting other ants. Two of the four newly discovered species also sprouted smaller stalks elsewhere, including from the victim's feet and lower leg joints - the equivalent of knees.The spores of the four species also had distinct features and germination processes. Hughes is concerned that one of the four fungus species, O. camponoti-novogranadensis, may not be around for much longer. During their visits to Brazil, Hughes and his colleagues saw that the high-elevation site where the species was found had become markedly drier and hotter. Hughes attributed the change in conditions at the Parque Estadual de Itacolomi, which is near the World Heritage Site Ouro Preto, to global warming. The insect can survive this shift in the local climate, but "the fungus can't," he said. "What we think we will see is the extinction event of the fungus we just managed to describe." (Hughes said are essential aquatic organisms living in terrestrial environments, making them extra-sensitive to a drying climate.) The research by Hughes and colleagues Simon Elliot and Harry Evans appears online today (March 2) in the journal PLoS ONE.After a week or two, spores from the fungus fall to the forest floor, where other insects can be infected.Making nests in the forest canopy might be an evolved ant strategy to avoid infection, Hughes figures. The insects also seem to avoid foraging under infected areas. This too might be an adaptive strategy to avoid infection, but more study is needed to confirm it, he said.
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