I miss Leslie when she’s out and about but I don’t mind it too much because I get to write about science stuff!
Leslie has way more knowledge than me, though.
Anyway, scientists discovered a fungus inside Irish caves that turns cave spiders into zombies.
They named the fungus after Sir David Attenborough. From CNN:
The newly discovered species, named Gibellula attenboroughii, acts in a similar way as the zombie ant fungus, seemingly manipulating its prey to move to a more suitable spot for the fungus to spread, according to a study published January 24 in the journal Fungal Systematics and Evolution.But the way in which the fungus affects the arachnid’s brain is still a mystery, and a multitude of questions remain about the fungus’ evolutionary pathway and ecological impacts.“We know very well the ants, the wasps, and very few other examples. And now this is in a different family, so it’s a new origin of behavior manipulation,” said study coauthor Dr. João Araújo, a mycologist at the Natural History Museum of Denmark and an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen. “It’s something really interesting that’s not super common in the parasitic world.”The finding opens up new research opportunities to better understand animal-controlling fungus and illuminates the diversity of fungi yet to be uncovered, researchers said.
Dr. Harry Evans from the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) and a team of scientists found that the fungus is native to only “indigenous cave-dwelling spider species.”
They concluded Gibellula attenboroughii prefers “man-made habitats like culverts, tunnels and cellars.”
[Featured image via Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) via BBC]
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