New Zombie-Ant Fungi Found

LiveScience.com livescience.com – Thu Mar 3, 5:45 pm ET

The world just got a little weirder: Scientists have identified four new species of brain-controlling fungi that turn ants into zombies that do the parasite's bidding before it kills them.

Identified from samples collected at two sites in Brazil's tropical rain forest, each of the four species specializes in controlling a different species of carpenter ant.

The original zombie-ant fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, was first identified in 1865, and it seems to exist around the world.

"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."

Once it infects an ant, the fungus uses as-yet-unidentified chemicals to control the ant's behavior, Hughes told LiveScience. It directs the ant to leave its colony (a very un-ant-like thing to do) and bite down on the underside of a leaf — the ant's soon-to-be resting place. Once it is killed by the fungus, the ant remains anchored in place, thanks to its death grip on the leaf.

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 ants 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 fungi 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.


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very cool article. now scientists are going to try and synthesize those chemicals in a lab. somebody is gonna break into the lab and toss a vial of the chemical into a crowded mall. thus starting the zombie apocolypse....

that's crazy, I remember hearing about this before.

What I don't get is why the fungus would make the ant leave the colony, then put out spores to infect more ants? Would work a lot faster if it happened in the colony.. maybe the other ants would remove the dead/infected one before it had a chance to put out the spores?

Originally Posted by fuzzylogix

very cool article. now scientists are going to try and synthesize those chemicals in a lab. somebody is gonna break into the lab and toss a vial of the chemical into a crowded mall. thus starting the zombie apocolypse....

well it had to start somewhere...

you guys must not watch Plant Earth to much, do ya? they had a section on this. rather awesome footage. check it out.

there it is

Originally Posted by Utta

you guys must not watch Plant Earth to much, do ya? they had a section on this. rather awesome footage. check it out.

very cool Tyler, thanks, I'll check that out when I get home.

What is Planet Earth? is that a program or a tv channel?
I only watch HULU

Originally Posted by fuzzylogix

very cool article. now scientists are going to try and synthesize those chemicals in a lab. somebody is gonna break into the lab and toss a vial of the chemical into a crowded mall. thus starting the zombie apocolypse....

I hope I can find a leaf big enough to hold me.....

T-virus anybody?

Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

very cool Tyler, thanks, I'll check that out when I get home.

What is Planet Earth? is that a program or a tv channel?
I only watch HULU

Was a special series that discovery channel put out. same people who did Life and Blue Planet.

Originally Posted by Utta

there it is

thanks for posting that link, crazy stuff indeed; nature is amazing, I sure hope that fungas doesn't mutate to mammals or we'll be pod people before too long.