Home | Community | Message Board

NorthSpore.com BOOMR Bag!
This site includes paid links. Please support our sponsors.


Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!

Shop: North Spore Injection Grain Bag   MagicBag.co All-In-One Bags That Don't Suck   Left Coast Kratom Buy Kratom Extract   Myyco.com Isolated Cubensis Liquid Culture For Sale   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   Mushroom-Hut Substrate Bags   Original Sensible Seeds Bulk Cannabis Seeds

Jump to first unread post Pages: 1
InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years
    #13065646 - 08/17/10 06:10 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years
August 18, 2010 - guardian.co.uk

Earliest evidence of fungus that takes over ants' behaviour for its own ends found by scientists


A carpenter ant (Camponotus leonardi) whose body has been consumed by the fungus Ophiocordyceps

The oldest evidence of a fungus that turns ants into zombies and makes them stagger to their death has been uncovered by scientists.

The gruesome hallmark of the fungus's handiwork was found on the leaves of plants that grew in Messel, near Darmstadt in Germany, 48m years ago.

The finding shows that parasitic fungi evolved the ability to control the creatures they infect in the distant past, even before the rise of the Himalayas.

The fungus, which is alive and well in forests today, latches on to carpenter ants as they cross the forest floor before returning to their nests high in the canopy.

The fungus grows inside the ants and releases chemicals that affect their behaviour. Some ants leave the colony and wander off to find fresh leaves on their own, while others fall from their tree-top havens on to leaves nearer the ground.

The final stage of the parasitic death sentence is the most macabre. In their last hours, infected ants move towards the underside of the leaf they are on and lock their mandibles in a "death grip" around the central vein, immobilising themselves and locking the fungus in position.

"This can happen on mass. You can find whole graveyards with 20 or 30 ants in a square metre. Each time, they are on leaves that are a particular height off the ground and they have bitten into the main vein before dying," said David Hughes at Harvard University.

The fungus cannot grow high up in the canopy or on the forest floor, but infected ants often die on leaves midway between the two, where the humidity and temperature suit the fungus. Once an ant has died, the fungus sprouts from its head and produces a pod of spores, which are fired at night on to the forest floor, where they can infect other ants.

Scientists led by Hughes noticed that ants infected with the fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, bit into leaves with so much force they left a lasting mark. The holes created by their mandibles either side of the leaf vein are bordered by scar tissue, producing an unmistakable dumb-bell shape.

Writing in the journal, Biology Letters, the team describes how they trawled a database of images that document leaf damage by insects, fungi and other organisms. They found one image of a 48m-year-old leaf from the Messel pit that showed the distinctive "death grip" markings of an infected ant. At the time, the Messel area was thick with subtropical forests.

"We now present it as the first example of behavioural manipulation and probably the only one which can be found. In most cases, this kind of control is spectacular but ephemeral and doesn't leave any permanent trace," Hughes said.

"The question now is, what are the triggers that push a parasite not just to kill its host, but to take over its brain and muscles and then kill it."

He added: "Of all the parasitic organisms, only a few have evolved this trick of manipulating their host's behaviour.

Why go to the bother? Why are there not more of them?"

Scientists are not clear how the fungus controls the ants it infects, but know that the parasite releases alkaloid chemicals into the insect as it consumes it from the inside.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinedip
Stranger
Registered: 03/07/10
Posts: 173
Last seen: 10 years, 11 months
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: veggie]
    #13065763 - 08/17/10 06:32 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Ophiocordyceps lateralis..there's one fungus I'll not be (Intentionally) consuming!

dip

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineMike711
friend
Male
Registered: 05/22/10
Posts: 209
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 9 years, 5 months
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: veggie]
    #13065833 - 08/17/10 06:46 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

does anyone know where to get a culture of the Ophiocordyceps :mushdance:

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinelolwhut
ahsgfiuahfuope
Male User Gallery

Registered: 06/29/07
Posts: 763
Last seen: 13 years, 4 months
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: Mike711]
    #13066125 - 08/17/10 07:47 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:

Mike711 said:
does anyone know where to get a culture of the Ophiocordyceps :mushdance:




Darmstadt, DE

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlineshroomer17
Stranger
Male


Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 08/31/05
Posts: 516
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 5 years, 3 months
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: Mike711]
    #13066143 - 08/17/10 07:51 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

You could start by checking out some forests in Germany...? :laugh:

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlineorison
mcfluffysugarnuts


Registered: 01/19/09
Posts: 5,468
Last seen: 19 hours, 22 minutes
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: shroomer17]
    #13066172 - 08/17/10 07:56 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

MOAR...


--------------------

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineArSoniSt
Stranger
 User Gallery


Registered: 12/08/09
Posts: 85
Last seen: 9 years, 10 months
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: orison]
    #13066818 - 08/17/10 10:50 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Thats pretty wicked.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinebluecurry
Dragons don't
Male User Gallery


Registered: 12/20/08
Posts: 889
Loc: half past purple, between... Flag
Last seen: 6 years, 4 months
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: ArSoniSt]
    #13066995 - 08/17/10 11:38 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Somebody should start work on an isolate that runs on the Human OS :awesomenod:

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisiblewondercat
Dashing


Registered: 07/25/10
Posts: 476
Loc: Flag
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: bluecurry]
    #13067034 - 08/17/10 11:47 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

holy ballz. creepy.


--------------------


it truly is an illusion- your senses are just perceiving the varying vibrations in different ways- its holography; a representation.

"Nothing" is easy - Mooji

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineThefirstTry
Welcomer
Male


Registered: 08/15/10
Posts: 7
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: wondercat]
    #13067797 - 08/18/10 06:23 AM (13 years, 6 months ago)

This is why humans shouldn't piss mushrooms off! It'll soon be doing this to us!!!


--------------------

:mushroom2::ooo::mushroom2:

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisiblenasem
Stranger


Registered: 12/19/09
Posts: 338
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: ThefirstTry]
    #13067821 - 08/18/10 06:40 AM (13 years, 6 months ago)

It already does. Humans are growing them, no?


--------------------
I dont know

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineMike711
friend
Male
Registered: 05/22/10
Posts: 209
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 9 years, 5 months
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: nasem]
    #13067938 - 08/18/10 08:03 AM (13 years, 6 months ago)

:drysmash:yea stemets is doing reserch on making a pesticide with the grain spawn but they say it will take another 18 months til its ready for market. they dont offer a mc since he has a patent for the only non-chemical pesticide. does anyone in the marketplace have this strain i have 4 more days till i can check

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleKingSpade
Seeker
Male


Registered: 09/16/04
Posts: 993
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: veggie]
    #13068452 - 08/18/10 11:09 AM (13 years, 6 months ago)

This was a huge story 2 summers ago....

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisiblecaphillkid
Coquus Boleti

Registered: 10/09/08
Posts: 4,666
Loc: Jet City
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: KingSpade]
    #13068499 - 08/18/10 11:23 AM (13 years, 6 months ago)


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineAnimaSoulBlue
Truth Seeker
Male User Gallery


Registered: 01/12/06
Posts: 395
Loc: LA Flag
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
Re: 'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48 million years [Re: caphillkid]
    #13068772 - 08/18/10 12:14 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

crazyness..


--------------------
Aesthetic Truth My website about TOOL
Believe in nothing~TOOL
We are eternal all this pain is an illusion~TOOL
Think for yourself, question authority~Timothy Leary



Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Jump to top Pages: 1

Shop: North Spore Injection Grain Bag   MagicBag.co All-In-One Bags That Don't Suck   Left Coast Kratom Buy Kratom Extract   Myyco.com Isolated Cubensis Liquid Culture For Sale   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   Mushroom-Hut Substrate Bags   Original Sensible Seeds Bulk Cannabis Seeds


Similar ThreadsPosterViewsRepliesLast post
* Scientist discovers ancient mushroom fossil with parasites dickdeadly 2,875 5 06/11/07 12:53 AM
by Cowgold
* Mushrooms Have a Future in Fighting a Fowl Parasite veggieM 561 0 12/08/06 01:58 PM
by veggie
* Drug Turns Crime Victims Into Zombies syntheticTHC 3,588 9 06/24/03 11:56 AM
by JameZTheNewbie
* Korean man excretes 48 wraps(3.5lbs) cocaine in Nigeria motamanM 1,299 7 07/30/06 12:47 PM
by Wholefoods
* Bush Using Drugs to Control Depression, Erratic Behavior ekomstop 4,240 17 08/06/04 10:11 PM
by Redo
* When Kids Overdose, Poison Control Centers Help AnnoA 1,469 5 07/15/04 10:38 AM
by gentledeadhead08
* Lawmakers Rebuff White House in Drug Control Bill motamanM 2,118 1 06/18/03 12:17 AM
by DailyPot
* MI6 pays out over secret LSD mind control tests veggieM 837 0 02/23/06 06:17 PM
by veggie

Extra information
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: motaman, veggie, Alan Rockefeller, Mostly_Harmless
3,040 topic views. 0 members, 5 guests and 2 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ]
Search this thread:

Copyright 1997-2024 Mind Media. Some rights reserved.

Generated in 0.028 seconds spending 0.008 seconds on 14 queries.