Zombie Ants Controlled by Fungus!
Posted 08-13-2009 at 03:15 AM by Luminos
I found this @foxnews.com
...and just when I thought bugs couldn't get creepier.
In a bizarre parasitic death sentence, a fungus turns carpenter ants 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 ants so effectively. But a new study in the September issue of the American Naturalist reveals an incredible set of strategies that ensue.
The carpenter ants nest high in the canopy of a forest in Thailand, and they trek to the forest floor to forage. The fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, prefers to end up on the undersides leaves sprouting from the northwest side of plants that grow on the forest floor, the new study showed. That's where temperature, humidity and sunlight are ideal for the fungus to grow and reproduce and infect more ants.
Once infected by the fungus, an ant is compelled to climb down from the canopy to the low leaves, where it clamps down with its mandibles just before it dies.
"The fungus accurately manipulates the infected ants into dying where the parasite prefers to be, by making the ants travel a long way during the last hours of their lives," said study leader David P. Hughes of Harvard University.
After the ant dies, the fungus continues to grow inside it. By dissecting victims, Hughes and colleagues found that the parasite converts the ant's innards into sugars that help the fungus grow. But it leaves the muscles controlling the mandibles intact to make sure the ant keeps its death grip on the leaf.
The fungus also preserves the ant's outer shell, growing into cracks and crevices to reinforce weak spots, thereby fashioning a protective coating that keeps microbes and other fungi out.
"The fungus has evolved a suite of novel strategies to retain possession of its precious resource," Hughes said.
After a week or two, spores from the fungus fall to the forest floor, where other ants can be infected.
Making nests in the forest canopy might be an evolved ant strategy to avoid infection, Hughes figures. The ants 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.
How the fungus controls ant behavior remains unknown. "That is another research area we are actively pursuing right now," Hughes said.
...and just when I thought bugs couldn't get creepier.
In a bizarre parasitic death sentence, a fungus turns carpenter ants 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 ants so effectively. But a new study in the September issue of the American Naturalist reveals an incredible set of strategies that ensue.
The carpenter ants nest high in the canopy of a forest in Thailand, and they trek to the forest floor to forage. The fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, prefers to end up on the undersides leaves sprouting from the northwest side of plants that grow on the forest floor, the new study showed. That's where temperature, humidity and sunlight are ideal for the fungus to grow and reproduce and infect more ants.
Once infected by the fungus, an ant is compelled to climb down from the canopy to the low leaves, where it clamps down with its mandibles just before it dies.
"The fungus accurately manipulates the infected ants into dying where the parasite prefers to be, by making the ants travel a long way during the last hours of their lives," said study leader David P. Hughes of Harvard University.
After the ant dies, the fungus continues to grow inside it. By dissecting victims, Hughes and colleagues found that the parasite converts the ant's innards into sugars that help the fungus grow. But it leaves the muscles controlling the mandibles intact to make sure the ant keeps its death grip on the leaf.
The fungus also preserves the ant's outer shell, growing into cracks and crevices to reinforce weak spots, thereby fashioning a protective coating that keeps microbes and other fungi out.
"The fungus has evolved a suite of novel strategies to retain possession of its precious resource," Hughes said.
After a week or two, spores from the fungus fall to the forest floor, where other ants can be infected.
Making nests in the forest canopy might be an evolved ant strategy to avoid infection, Hughes figures. The ants 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.
How the fungus controls ant behavior remains unknown. "That is another research area we are actively pursuing right now," Hughes said.
Total Comments 12
Comments
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eww fungus... ><
well at least ants are getting killed or whatever^.*Posted 08-13-2009 at 03:28 AM by KillGirl
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@killgirl: lmao
That's amazing. As if I needed another reason to hate ants after they built a nest inside my xbox 360Posted 08-13-2009 at 03:39 AM by andrew.wa -
lol nice andrewPosted 08-13-2009 at 03:44 AM by anime - >.?
you stuck candy inside your xbox?!Posted 08-13-2009 at 03:45 AM by KillGirl - it will become the T-Virus!!!!!Posted 08-13-2009 at 03:47 AM by anime
- well maybe if some dumbass breaths in an assload of spores.........Posted 08-13-2009 at 03:50 AM by anime
- No killgirl I did not stick candy in my xbox. I had a very clean xbox that I loved very much until that fateful day. They defiled it. Its just not the same anymore. at least 5000 ants. Not exagerating at all. 5000 ants and all their larvae and debree they left behind.
I tried shaking them out all night long and freezing them by turning a dust off can upside down.
But they just kept coming.
I resorted to putting the entire xbox in the freezer overnight. Did I think that would work! But nooo, They kept coming back, theyre were just as many the next day.
I had to put the xbox in the freezer overnight 5 or 6 times before I killed all those ants. My xbox will never be the same, and it was a halo limited edition one *sob*
Theres no way to understand how many there were, but I got a few pictures, I didn't get any good picture of when the ants were swarming it because I was too panicky to even think of taking pictures.
So when I put it in the freezer I wrapped it in a bag. And this was what fell out of it in the bag the 2nd night I had put it in the freezer, its about half what came out after the first night.
SpoilerPosted 08-13-2009 at 04:44 AM by andrew.wa -
Did you keep your Xbox in an ant hill...? O.o
Damn that Fungus is awesome :OPosted 08-13-2009 at 05:01 AM by Chicken993 -
ants in ur xbox??? well, thats a new one...
i wonder if the fungus can control pple??? :OPosted 08-13-2009 at 05:52 AM by Savara -
soon savara very very soonPosted 08-13-2009 at 06:40 AM by Tony_walther -
stuff like this is so cool!!
*loves science*Posted 08-13-2009 at 03:20 PM by rusty -
maybe you found the cause of the RROD?Quote:Originally Posted by andrew.wa
@killgirl: lmao
That's amazing. As if I needed another reason to hate ants after they built a nest inside my xbox 360Posted 08-19-2009 at 04:28 AM by Luminos
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