{"id":5122,"date":"2011-05-11T10:10:43","date_gmt":"2011-05-11T14:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=5122"},"modified":"2011-05-11T10:10:43","modified_gmt":"2011-05-11T14:10:43","slug":"fungus-makes-zombie-ants-administer-death-bite-at-noon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2011\/05\/11\/fungus-makes-zombie-ants-administer-death-bite-at-noon\/","title":{"rendered":"Fungus makes zombie ants administer \u2018death bite\u2019 at noon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Researcher David Hughes has expanded research on a parasitic fungus and its carpenter ant host. As explained in an excerpt from a previous EcoTone<\/em> post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Scientists have found that the parasitic fungus <\/em>Ophiocordyceps unilateralis has possibly been invading carpenter ants (<\/em>Camponotus) for 48 million years. The parasite not only infects the ant, but it manipulates the ant\u2019s behavior, driving it to bite the underside of the leaf at the veins. Once the ant hits an optimal location, the fungus grows rapidly, killing the ant and preparing it to release a new spore.<\/em><\/p>\n

During this process, the ants leave distinct marks, also known as \u201cdeath bites,\u201d on the leaves as they bite the veins in search of a prime spot for fungal growth. It is this unique pattern that led researcher David Hughes to a 48 million year old leaf with similar markings. According to a <\/em>Nature News <\/em>article<\/a>, Hughes contacted Conrad Labandeira, a palaeoecologist at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of Natural History, who, as it turns out, had noticed a leaf with similar markings. As Hughes said in the article, \u201cIt is not normal ant behavior to bite into the leaf vein because it has no real nutritional value to the ant and can in fact be toxic in some plant species.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

This finding, as he explained in a <\/em>Biology Letters study<\/a> published [last year], indicated that the carpenter ants were infected with the parasitic fungus when the ant made the leaf marks. As reported in <\/em>Discover Magazine\u2019s <\/em>blog<\/a> <\/em>80beats, \u201c<\/em>If Hughes\u2019 dating is correct, then the fungi have had plenty of time to fine-tune their zombifying practice into the ruthlessly efficient mind control we see today.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

These findings were recently backed up in a study<\/a> published by Hughes, now a researcher at Pennsylvania State University, and colleagues in the journal BMC Ecology <\/em>this week. They found that the ants bit on the leaf veins around noon\u2014a time that appeared to be specific for the fungus. As Hughes said in a Live Science<\/em> article<\/a>, \u201cSynchronized arrival of zombie ants at the graveyards is a remarkable phenomenon. It adds a layer of complexity on what is already an impressive feat. However, although ants bite at noon they don\u2019t in fact die until sunset. Likely this strategy ensures (the fungus) has a long cool night ahead of it during which time it can literally burst out of the ant\u2019s head to begin the growth of the spore-releasing stalk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ants\u2014in the case of the most recent study, Camponotus leonardi\u2014<\/em>live in the canopy of trees but come to the forest floor occasionally. It is here that they contract the fungus. It is also here that the fungus brings the ants, \u201c<\/em>which zigzag in a drunken walk over low vegetation,\u201d wrote Wynne Perry in the Live Science<\/em> article<\/a>, \u201csometimes falling and convulsing,\u201d to the lower vegetation where the ants will administer the death bite.<\/p>\n

Hughes, D., Andersen, S., Hywel-Jones, N., Himaman, W., Billen, J., & Boomsma, J. (2011). Behavioral mechanisms and morphological symptoms of zombie ants dying from fungal infection BMC Ecology, 11<\/span> (1) DOI: 10.1186\/1472-6785-11-13<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Photo Credit: David Hughes<\/a> (via Live Science)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researcher David Hughes has expanded research on a parasitic fungus and its carpenter ant host. As explained in an excerpt from a previous EcoTone post: Scientists have found that the parasitic fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis has possibly been invading carpenter ants (Camponotus) for 48 million years. The parasite not only infects the ant, but it manipulates the ant\u2019s behavior, driving it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[311,922,1174,1066,272,871,918,140,908,920],"class_list":["post-5122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","tag-ants","tag-behavior","tag-canopy","tag-forest","tag-fungus","tag-growth","tag-parasitic-fungus","tag-trees","tag-vegetation","tag-zombie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}