Fan Country Living
As would the threat of murder hornets and by mosquito-borne diseases were not enough, now “zombie cicadas” have arrived in the United States and we have never been more excited to use our locker rooms with bugguard and hide this wild insect community.
According to CBS News, “zombie cicadas” have been detected in West Virginia. Fortunately, these mutant critters appear harmless to humans, yet the process by which “zombie cicadas” infect others is quite bizarre. Unlike your average noisy squeaking cicadas, these “zombie cicadas” are infected with a fungus called Massospora which in principle derives from their mind and body.
A study that recently appeared in PLOS Pathogens compares the transfer of Massospora, known as active host transmission (AHT), after that of rabies. “AHT is a form of biological puppetry in which the pathogen manipulates the behavior of its powerless host,” the study writes. It explains that if a male cicada gets infected with this fungus, it will start by repeating the wing-flicking behavior that is typically exclusive to female cicadas. Other male cicadas will be lured in, thinking it is a female cicadas who want to mate. Since cicadas are not sexually dimorphic, it is difficult to distinguish between a male and a female.
Once the interested cicada has been cursed to mate once after the infected cicada, the infected cicada will try to hand over the mold to its rightful place. Dan, de Massosopora will start eating from the inside at the belly of the cicada, and fill it with yellow mold spores. Not only will the now zombie-like cicada lose half of its body to this devastated fungus, but it will be brainwashed and tricked into performing female mating rituals to continue spreading the virus. Think of it as a living death – the cicada will continue to exist, but in a mutated life form. The spores that form in the abdomen of each cicada can be dropped on other cicadas to further transmit the disease.
Unfortunately, there is still not much research on this bizarre fungal infection, as it is extremely challenging for scientists, as certain cicadas live for periods of 13 to 17 years. In fact, it is not yet known how Massopora arose. All I know is that I walk the other way when I hear her raging screams. These bugs are buggin ‘.
You might as well go over
