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"I feel like a zombie," I thought to myself while getting off a zoom call. Thus, inspiration was born: today, we're talking about entomoparasitic (insect-parasitizing) fungi! The spores of these fungi land on ants, beetles, and other insects. The fungus infiltrates the insect's body and hijacks their muscles, forcing them to travel up stalks of grass or stems of plants. Once in the ideal position to spread its spores, the fungus kills the insect, then grows its spore-producing fruiting body! CREEPY, AMAZING, ZOMBIE INSECTS. I had first learned about these entomoparasitic fungi from the Planet Earth documentary series. For years, I slept soundly, naively believing that these sci-fi fungi were a continent away. Cut to this fall, when Joe Walewski (Lichenologist extraordinaire and Very Cool Dude) pointed out some weird little stalks growing from a downed log. They were fruiting bodies from a closely-related fungus that preys on bark beetles! Turns out, we have a variety of 'zombie fungi' in the area. So, with that in mind, please enjoy:
1.) The original video from Planet Earth
2.) A newer video explaining how Cordyceps and related fungi invade host bodies and alter behavior
3.) Some incredible observations of these fungi in North America!!
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