Peculiar Parasitic Fungi Discovered Growing Out of Rectum of a 50 Million-Year-Old Fossilized Ant
DannyB writes:
It is the oldest example of an ant infected by a fungal parasite ever found.
Scientists have identified a new species of extinct parasitic fungus bursting from the backside of a 50 million-year-old ant, all perfectly preserved in amber.
In addition to the bulbous mushroom protruding from the ant's rectum, evidence of the freaky fungus can be seen throughout the body of its unlucky host. The ant likely died as a result of its fungal infection and was fortuitously fixed in tree resin (which fossilizes into amber) shortly afterward. It is the oldest example of a fungal parasite ever discovered in ants.
[....] "These types of discoveries are extremely rare," George Poinar Jr., an entomologist at Oregon State University who helped pioneer the extraction of DNA from amber, told Live Science. "The amber resin contains chemicals that fixes cells and tissues and also destroys associated microbes that would normally decompose specimens."
[....] The main difference between A. baltica and Ophiocordyceps is where their mushroom emerges from an ant. The mushroom, or ascomata, acts as the reproductive organ of the fungi, releasing spores into the environment. Ophiocordyceps fungi grow their ascomata around the neck and head of their host ants; the fungi hijack the host ants' brain in a form of mind control, which the fungi use to force the ants to bite into plants where other carpenter ants lay their eggs. This enables the fungi to release their spores in areas with a high concentration of potential new hosts.
In the final paragraph, it was particularly interesting how "the fungi hijack the host ants' brain in a form of mind control".
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