Tags
fungus, hyperparasitism, news, Ophiocordyceps, science, zombie, zombie ants
Listen…I don’t want you to think that I’m obsessed with zombies, okay? Just because I post about them occasionally/periodically.
Anywho, I thought you’d want to be up-to-date on the latest zombie gossip, ’cause the story has recently gotten even more dramatic. Turns out there’s another fungus involved, only it’s cheating on the zombie fungus. The second fungus (a hyperparasitic fungus) devours the Ophiocordyceps fungus, thereby castrating it. In other words, the enemy of my enemy is my friend?
Don’t get confused now, what I’m trying to say is that there’s a zombie-ant fungus and an anti-zombie fungus.
Wrap your head around that!
You heard it here first! Unless, of course, you read PLoS ONE, NPR, the Penn State News Wire, or Science Daily.
