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With the emergence of cicada broods this summer time, scientists have begun gathering specimens of cicada contaminated with a mysterious parasitic fungus that takes over the bugs and turns them into hypersexual “zombies” on amphetamine with the goal of spreading the parasite to different hosts.
West Virginia University mycology professor Matt Kasson instructed The Associated Press that he traveled to the Morton Arboretum exterior Chicago along with his 9-year-old son Oliver and graduate pupil Angie Macias with the target of monitoring down contaminated cicadas.
The fungus, Massospora cicadina, infects cicadas and it turns the again a part of their our bodies into “a chalky mess of spores,” Chicago’s Field Museum instructed Fox News Digital earlier this month.
The fungus takes over a cicada’s nether elements, dumping the genitalia and changing them with what the Field Museum describes as a “fungal plug.” The plug can get ripped open throughout the mating course of, and the cicada will “fly around raining down spores, further spreading the fungus.”
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The fungus infects cicadas and turns the again a part of their our bodies right into a chalky mess of spores. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
When the fungus takes over a cicada, it produces amphetamine – the drug known as pace – and is the one fungus on Earth to take action.
West Virginia University mycology professor Matt Kasson prepares to course of a reside periodical cicada contaminated with the Massospora cicadina fungus at Morton Arboretum on Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Lisle, Illinois. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
While contaminated cicadas are alleged to be uncommon, Kasson and his small group collected 36 throughout their temporary hunt within the Chicago space. People, nevertheless, have already despatched him an extra 200 or so from across the nation. Kasson is ready for an RNA evaluation of the fungus.
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“This was a mycological oddity for a long time,” Kasson instructed the AP of the mysterious fungus. “It’s got the biggest genome. It produces wild compounds. It keeps the host active – all these quirks to it.”
An intact feminine periodical cicada contaminated with the Massospora cicadina fungus is seen at Morton Arboretum on Thursday, June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Experts say that whereas the fungus turns cicadas into drug-addled, sex-crazed “flying saltshakers of death,” it poses no hazard to people or different animals.
Fox News’ Christine Rousselle and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
