A "zombie" fungus made famous byThe Last of Usvideo game franchise has been discovered in the Amazon, infecting a "goliath"spider. In a nightmarish discovery that has piquedscientificinterest, a tarantula has been found in theBrazilianrainforest infected by the infamous parasitic fungal genus Cordyceps.
Found in the Adolpho Ducke Reserve, a protected area of theAmazon rainforestnear the city of Manaus, it signals the first time that such an interaction with a large tarantula has been observed there. It came to light as part of an expedition dedicated to tropical fungi, with studies completed by experts from three institutions: the Federal University of Santa Catarina, the University of Copenhagen, and the National Institute of Amazonian Research. The species of fungus, Cordyceps caloceroides, was found to be parasitising a specimen of Theraphosa blondii, also known as the Goliath birdeater, which, as its name suggests, is one of the largest spiders on the planet.
READ MORE:World's biggest web spider houses more than 100k creepy crawlies
READ MORE:Crackdown sees 2,000 tarantulas seized from car
A post shared by Elisandro Ricardo Drechsler-Santos (@drechsler_santos)
Cordyceps is notorious for its ability to infect insects and arthropods,eerily taking overtheir nervous systems and controlling their movements like puppets.
A student named Lara Fritzsche made the fascinating discovery as part of the Tropical Mycology Field Course, arranged by biologist João Paulo Machado de Araújo.
Professor Elisandro Ricardo Drechsler-Santos, from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, said it's rare for parasitism of this kind to occur in arachnids, noting that such relationships are the consequence of processes that take place overmillions of years.
In this particular instance, bright orange, tendril-like protrusions can be seen pushing their way out of the tarantula's body, a phenomenon that relates to the Cordyceps' reproductive phase.
In what will come as a welcome relief to any horrified readers, the researchers have reassured people that Cordyceps caloceroides poses no risk to human beings.
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
