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2020-08-02 Science & Technology
Mind-controlling fungus makes zombie cicadas lure other cicadas to a zombie fate
[LIVE SCIENCE] Male cicadas infected by a particularly gruesome parasitic fungus become zombies with an undercover mission: They broadcast a female's sexy come-hither message to other male cicadas, luring their unsuspecting victims to join the zombie cicada horde.

Researchers recently discovered this unusual twist to the cicada's already horrific zombification story. As the parasitic fungus called Massospora eats away at a cicada's abdomen, replacing it with a mass of yellow spores, the fungus also compels males to flick their wings in movements that are typically performed by females to attract mates.

Healthy males that hurry over for female company, then try to mate with the infected male, which passes along the Massospora infection. This and other new discoveries are helping scientists to piece together how Massospora turns cicadas into mind-controlled zombies, according to a new study published online June 18 in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

This zombie-host relationship can be challenging to observe. Though the fungus can affect cicadas that emerge annually, many of its cicada hosts are in the Magicicada genus, also known as periodical cicadas. These black-bodied and red-eyed cicadas spend 13 to 17 years (depending on the species) underground as immature nymphs. Luckily for the scientists who study periodical cicadas, local populations known as broods that follow this cycle emerge during different years in different locations.
Posted by Besoeker 2020-08-02 07:31|| || Front Page|| [1 views ]  Top

#1 Likely to be attributed to Zoonosis in zombie democratic voters. Cicadas should not be held accountable.
Posted by Besoeker 2020-08-02 07:37||   2020-08-02 07:37|| Front Page Top

#2 Psilocybin for cicadas? Who would have thought?
Posted by JohnQC 2020-08-02 09:11||   2020-08-02 09:11|| Front Page Top

#3 They broadcast a female's sexy come-hither message to other male cicadas

Healthy males that hurry over for female company, then try to mate with the infected male

CicAIDs?
Posted by Skidmark 2020-08-02 09:22||   2020-08-02 09:22|| Front Page Top

#4 So cicadas are DemoncRats?
Posted by Barbara 2020-08-02 09:49||   2020-08-02 09:49|| Front Page Top

#5 Mind-controlled zombies making more zombies... I gotta say, it sounds a lot like Socialism.
Posted by SteveS 2020-08-02 10:27||   2020-08-02 10:27|| Front Page Top

#6 I wonder if it possible to develop Portland-Seattle version of this for the Liberals/Marxists.

Then my wife reminded me that they already had..... Its called CNN-MS-NBC.
Posted by NN2N 2020-08-02 14:43||   2020-08-02 14:43|| Front Page Top

#7 #4

Bob Hope on zombies
Posted by Beavis 2020-08-02 16:36||   2020-08-02 16:36|| Front Page Top










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