Scientists have discovered a never-before-seen mind-controlling fungus that creates spider “zombies” after it was stumbled upon in a Victorian gunpowder store on the grounds of a destroyed Irish castle.
The fluffy white fungus, similar to the zombie-ant fungus that inspired the “The Last of Us” video game and TV series, likely uses chemical signals to direct cave spiders out of their lairs and into the open. The fungus then kills the spiders and uses their corpses to release its spores, according to a new study.
Members of BBC’s nature documentary TV series Winterwatch first discovered the fungus in a gunpowder storeroom at Castle Espie wetland reserve in Northern Ireland in 2021. Scientists analyzed the fungus and found it is new to science. They describe the species, named Gibellula attenboroughii to honor Sir David Attenborough, in a study published Friday (Jan. 24) in the journal Fungal Systematics and Evolution.
Wow that sounds like a really cool fungus. I mean this is great! This is fantastic! I hope we can get into a lot of direct mucus to mucus contact with that fungus to study it and learn about it! Me, a self-thinking and autonomous individual would just love to see this!
you know, if a fungal infection made us compulsively kiss each other i can certainly think of worse fates
I too, an autonomous individual, would love to see this. How coincidental!
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Reporters looking in the gunpowder storeroom of an abandoned medieval castle found spiders infected by a mind-controlling fungus.
This is exactly how many horror movies start.
Wtf why is this in Ireland??? I thought stuff like this stays in the rainforest.
It’s already In Gun powder storage, burn it now! I don’t need fungas zombie in this timeline.
No no. Study it, raise it, do tests to see if it can infect humans. Train the freshly raised corpse to consume human flesh.
My God! you are fireman that got tired of kids pulling the fire alarm and decided to pursue the original passion of gene splicing!
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as someone who lives in Ireland, I have to say this is just great for me
Can’t wait for this to happen to humans. Also the creepy transition period when it happens to pets and livestock.
Fungus is to be respected and feared - there is so much it can do and so much we don’t understand about it.
It’s a new species but this behavior has been seen in other fungus. See it all the time in basements in West Virginia
You may want to get in touch with the authors of the paper if you’ve seen a similar fungus, it’s entirely possible it’s also unknown or, at least, undocumented. A lot of species that people see ‘all the time’ turn out to be novel.
The paper, with contact details is here: https://www.fuse-journal.org/images/Issues/Vol15Art7.pdf
