Overview

• Residents have reported fungus‑encrusted spiders in Minnesota and Upstate New York, across the U.K., in Ontario, Russia, the Czech Republic and New Zealand.
• The culprit is Gibellula attenboroughii, a species formally described after analyses of specimens from Irish cave systems and named for David Attenborough.
• The fungus infects orb‑weaving spiders such as Metellina merianae, drains nutrients, and induces the hosts to leave shelter and die exposed to aid spore dispersal.
• After the host’s death, stalk‑like fruiting bodies emerge from the mummified spider and release spores under humid conditions.
• The phenomenon first came to light when BBC Winterwatch filmed an infected spider in a Northern Ireland gunpowder store in 2021, with a 2025 study detailing its behavior‑altering lifecycle and underscoring overlooked fungal diversity.