Strangely, Zombie beetles have behaviors that are
Forcing victims to have sex with corpses is probably the most strange and frightening way of existence in the natural world.
Natural parasites have many ways to increase survival. But to the point of turning the host into a corpse and . forcing males to relate to them, there is indeed only one. It is Eryniopsis lampyridarum - a native American parasitic fungus.
Beetles are forced by parasites to relate to dead bodies .
The victim of this fungus is warrior bug goldenrod (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus). In a recent study published in the Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, experts observed over 400 female beetles (both alive and dead). They found that 20% of these infections were fungal. However, many corpses of fungal infections have a strange posture.
Specifically, after the bugs climb up to the top of the flower, the fungus catches the beetle and raises its belly. The problem is that this posture appears about 15-22 hours after the fungus kills the host, demonstrating that it does so on purpose.
According to experts, parasitic fungi have forced female bugs to climb the top of the flower, because that is where the most healthy males look for food and also . their partners. Next, making the wings spread out, bulging the abdomen is to make the corpse become more attractive, attracting healthy male bugs and sex.
Mushroom spores are then transferred to the male beetle, and spread to the beetle community.
It seems to be only in fictional movies, but in fact there are hundreds and even thousands of parasites capable of controlling host actions. The most prominent are fungi with the ability to control many species of bugs, such as ants.
They had to crawl up high places, stick to them and . die. Then when the body decomposes, fungal spores will quickly spread.
So, natural life is really scary and harsh.
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