Mushrooms are unlucky

A fungus has the ability to turn ants to chisel wood into walking corpses and make them come to remove corpses in a convenient location for this mushroom to grow and reproduce.

Scientists have yet to find any clues to explain how this fungus can effectively control the brain of ants. But a study to be published in the September issue of American Naturalist will reveal the strategies that the fungus applies after controlling dead ants to a specific location.

Woody ants live in a high canopy in a Thai forest, and they have to move hard to the ground floor to feed. The fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis usually lives on the underside of the leaves growing in the northwest of the canopy. This is the ideal place for temperature, humidity and sunlight levels for this mushroom to grow, reproduce and spread to ant bodies.

Once infected with this fungus, the controlled ant climbed from the canopy level to the lower leaves and used the teeth to grip the leaves before dying.

Wood ant ants. (Photo: Flickr)

'This fungus controls the ant very precisely in making them move a long way in the last hours of life and die in the exact position it wants,' David P. Hughes, university official Harvard, head of the research team, said.

After the ants die, the fungus continues to grow inside the ant body. By anatomy of the ill-fated victim's body, Hughes and his colleagues discovered that parasitic plants turned the intestinal constituents of the sugars to provide for their development. But they keep the muscles that control the jaw to make sure that even when they die, ants cling to the leaves.

The fungus also retains the ants' outer shell as a protective coat against bacteria and other fungal attacks.

'This mushroom has developed strange ways to retain its precious resources ,' Hughes said.

After one to two weeks, fungal spores will fall to the ground layer, and cling to other bad ants.

Nesting high canopy may be an evolutionary step of ants to avoid fungal infection, Hughes speculated. Ants also avoid feeding in areas where fungi are present. However, these are only conjectures, scientists need to conduct further research before confirming this.
How ants control mushrooms is still a secret. 'This is also a research issue that we are currently pursuing,' Hughes said.