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yesterday

99-Million-Year-Old Amber Holds Earliest Evidence of Zombie Fungi

Fossils from Myanmar indicate that parasitic mind-control by Ophiocordyceps fungi dates back nearly 100 million years.

Fungi can be seen growing out of the head of an insect encased in 99-million-year-old amber. 
An ant infected with parasitic fungus trapped in 99 million-year-old amber.
A spider that has been killed by an entomopathogenic fungus.
A Cretaceous ant discards a pupa infected with fungi. © Dinghua Yang

Overview

  • A June 11 paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B details amber fossils showing Ophiocordyceps fungi erupting from an ant pupa and a fly.
  • Researchers named two ancient species—Paleoophiocordyceps gerontoformicae on the ant and Paleoophiocordyceps ironomyiae on the fly—using optical microscopy and micro-CT imaging.
  • The specimens reveal that Ophiocordyceps had diversified to infect multiple insect groups and likely played a role in regulating populations during the Mid-Cretaceous.
  • Soft-bodied fungi rarely fossilize, making these amber inclusions among the oldest direct records of parasitic fungi manipulating insect behavior.
  • The samples were acquired ethically from Myanmar amber markets before 2017, and ongoing analyses aim to shed further light on early insect–fungal ecological relationships.