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The world just got a small uncanny : Scientists have identified four new specie of brain - control fungi that turn ants into zombies that do the parasite ’s dictation before it pop them .
Identified from samples amass at two sites in Brazil ’s tropical rainfall forest , each of the four mintage specializes in controlling a different mintage of carpenter ant .
A dead ant, after being zombified by a species of parasitic fungus.
The original zombi - ant fungus , Ophiocordyceps unilateralis , was first identify in 1865 , and it seems to be around the world . [ Mind - Controlling Parasites Date Back Millions of year ]
" So we knew , flop off the bat , there was a compass of other species within that , " said work researcher David Hughes , an entomologist at Pennsylvania State University . " I think it will turn out to be in the 100 . "
Once it infects an ant , the fungus uses as - yet - nameless chemical to control the ant ’s behavior , Hughes told LiveScience . It direct the emmet to entrust its colony ( a very un - ant - corresponding thing to do ) and bite down on the undersurface of a leafage — the ant ’s before long - to - be rest plaza . Once it is killed by the fungus , the ant remain anchor in place , thanks to its dying handgrip on the leaf .
finally , the fungus produces a farseeing stalk that protrudes from the ant ’s header , shooting spores out in the promise of infecting other ants . Two of the four newly discovered species also pullulate small stalks elsewhere , including from the dupe ’s human foot and broken leg joints – the equivalent of knees .
The spore of the four species also had distinct feature and sprouting processes .
Hughes is implicated that one of the four fungus species , O. camponoti - novogranadensis , may not be around for much longer . During their visit to Brazil , Hughes and his colleagues get a line that the high - elevation site where the species was found had become markedly drier and hot . Hughes attributed the change in conditions at the Parque Estadual de Itacolomi , which is near the World Heritage Site Ouro Preto , to global thaw .
The ants can survive this shift in the local mood , but " the fungus ca n’t , " he said . " What we think we will see is the extinction issue of the fungus we just managed to describe . " ( Hughes aver fungi are substantive aquatic being living in terrestrial environment , making them extra - sensitive to a drying climate . )
The inquiry by Hughes and colleagues Simon Elliot and Harry Evans come along online today ( March 2 ) in the diary PLoS ONE .
you’re able to followLiveSciencewriter Wynne Parry on Twitter@Wynne_Parry .
