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.
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