A new fungus has been discovered in Brazil that mummifies its prey in a type of sap and shoots a purple-colored stem from the corpse.
The specimen, which feasts on rainforest trapdoor spiders, belongs to the same family as the zombie ant fungus made famous in HBO’s “The Last of Us.”
João Araújo, of the New York Botanical Gardens, told DailyMail.com that the new fungus, Purpureocillium, infects its hosts like the zombie fungus, by spores landing on the victim and entering the body.
Fungal tissue slowly spreads through the spider’s body and organizes to produce the fruiting body that grows from the anthropoid’s head.
A fungus has been discovered in Brazil that mummifies its prey in a type of sap and shoots a purple-colored stem from the corpse.
“Once inside the spider’s body, the fungus multiplies as yeast-like cells, overpowering the host’s immune system and causing disease,” Araújo told DailyMail.com.
Development continues as these individual cells begin to connect with each other.
“Immediately after the host is killed, these yeast-like cell chains begin to connect and germinate into filaments, or hyphae.
‘They begin to organize themselves to produce the fruiting body from the host plant; it varies by species. For example, the zombie ant fungi often grow from the back of the head, while Purpureocillium usually grows from the spider’s cephalothorax.’
Purpureocillium fungi have been found in various parts of the world, such as Japan, and have long been treated as the same species.
The spores form a bell shape as they grow from the spider’s head, releasing millions of spores into the air
‘Our study suggests that P. atypicolum actually consists of several undescribed species; it’s called a ‘complex of species,’ and our new find in Brazil is just one of many,” said Araújo,
“We believe our new discovery is limited to Brazil or South America.”
However, the bright purple color of the fungus is still a mystery, but Araújo said it may have to do with the metabolites they produce.
Parasitic fungi gained popularity after HBO released “The Last of Us.”
The series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) as he escorts teenage Ellie (Bella Ramsey) through Boston, Massachusetts, after a fungus spreads around the world, turning victims into zombies who spread the fungi’s spores and infect anyone who comes into contact with it. comes into contact.
Araújo told the DailyMail.com in February that cordyceps evolved rather to enable the fungus to turn ants into zombies.
“We hypothesize that the fungus first infected the ant about 45 million years ago,” Araujo said.
The specimen, which feasts on rainforest trapdoor spiders, belongs to the same family as the zombie ant fungus made famous in HBO’s “The Last of Us.”
It is revealed that Cordyceps only infects ants, turning them into zombies to spread more spores
“The cordyceps was (first) in beetles and then jumped to ants because they both happened to be (in the same) tree trunk.”
Araújo further explained that about 35 ophiocordyceps fungi are known to turn insects into zombies, which are found in the US, Brazil, Japan and parts of Africa.
In the HBO series, the fungus turns people into cannibal monsters, but this does not occur in nature.
Araújo said it makes the bugs look like they’re drunk.
“When the zombie ants are infested, they just want a peaceful and cool place as a platform for the fungus,” he said.
‘That’s their last goal in life: to find a good place for the parasite to thrive.
“There is no aggression. The infected ants will not attack. They behave very strangely, like a drunken ant.’
While the newly discovered fungus and cordyceps aren’t likely to infect humans anytime soon, other fungi currently in the world pose a dangerous threat.
“I think the first scene (from The Last of Us), where the scientists say in the 1960s that people should be aware of fungal infections, was a really nice shot,” Araújo said.
In October 2022, the World Health Organization released its first-ever list of health-threatening fungi, which includes a catalog of the 19 fungi that pose the greatest threat to public health.