Zombie Ants
Monday, March 26th, 2012 8:01:04 by Fouad Ashraf
The tropical carpenter ants (Camponotus Leonardi) live high in the treetops. When infected by a parasitic fungus (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) the behaviour of these ants changes dramatically.
Behaves erratically and act as zombies, and are manipulated by the fungus to death in order to obtain optimal conditions for the reproduction of fungi. The new research, published in the journal BMC Ecology, examines the patterns of altered behaviour in
ants and shows how the fungus manipulates the behaviour of ants.
An international team of researchers studied in the jungles of Thailand carpenter ants infected by the fungus O. As it develops, the fungus spreads through the ant’s body and head causing muscles to atrophy. The fungus also affects the central nervous system
of the ant and as normal ants rarely leave clues for those who work carrying food to the nest, the zombies walk in a random manner, unable to find their way home. Ants also have seizures that are falling from the trees. Once on the ground were unable to find
their way back to the cup and kept in an area of undergrowth which was fresher for the fungus could develop.
At solar noon (when the sun is at his strongest) the fungus synchronized the infected ant behaviour, forcing them to bite the main vein on the underside of a leaf. The multiplication of fungal cells in the heads of ants causes the fibre within the muscles
that open and close their jaws fall off. This results in a ‘lock jaw’, which means that an infected ant is unable to release the sheet after death. A few days later, the fungus produces a fruiting body (stroma) of the ant’s head which releases spores to be
collected by another ant wandering.
Dr. David Hughes, of Penn State University , said: "The fungus attacks the ants on two fronts. First by using the ant as a food source, and secondly through their muscles and system CNS, resulting in zombies that end up in the damp undergrowth. This behaviour
of infected ants is essentially an extended phenotype of the fungus (fungal behaviour through the ant’s body)”.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=17250
Posted by Fouad Ashraf
on Mar 26 2012. Filed under World.
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