Tag: parasite

Amazonian ‘zombie’ fungus harbours a hidden stage inside forest mosses, new study reveals

Research led by INPA scientists reveals that the parasite, famous for altering ant behavior, also shelters within vegetation, suggesting a dual ecological journey never before observed in manipulating lineages of the genus.

A team led by researchers at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), in Manaus, has found evidence that the “zombie-ant” fungus (genus Ophiocordyceps), globally known for controlling ant behavior and forcing infected ants to bite onto plants before dying, also lives hidden inside mosses in the Amazon rainforest.

By analysing the DNA of mosses collected at the Ducke Reserve in Manaus, the scientists detected the same parasitic fungus present not only in infected and manipulated insects, but also in the mosses where the infected insect is manipulated to bite. This indicates that the fungus has one life stage as an insect parasite and another, endophytic (living inside the plant) stage that had gone unnoticed until now.

Camponotus nidulans ants infected by O. camponoti-nidulantis found among bryophytes at the Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve. Specimen “TAJ59” found on Octoblepharum moss. Image credit: Tales Alves-Júnior et al.
Specimen “TAJ63” also found on Octoblepharum moss. Image credit: Tales Alves-Júnior et al.

The genus Ophiocordyceps comprises more than 350 species of fungi known for infecting a wide range of insects. Some of these species are famous for a behaviour that sounds like science fiction: after infecting an ant, the fungus alters its behaviour and forces it to leave the colony, climb the vegetation, and clamp its mandibles onto a specific spot, the so-called “death grip,” shortly before dying and releasing its spores.

In 2020, studies in China had already shown that a species from the same genus, known as “Himalayan gold” (O. sinensis), lived endophytically in plants in alpine regions. The major breakthrough of this new INPA study is demonstrating this same dual lifestyle in fungi that manipulate the insect to specifically and consistently bite plants that harbor the endophytic stage of the “zombie fungus.”

This suggests that the behavioral manipulation goes beyond the fungus-ant association, and that the plant harbouring the fungus’ endophytic phase may also possibly influence the manipulation itself.

The research, published in the open-access journal IMA Fungus, was carried out at the Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve, north of Manaus, and relied on metabarcoding, a technique that allows researchers to read the DNA of all fungi present in an environmental sample at once.

*Ophiocordyceps*-infected insects found attached to bryophytes. *Camponotus* *renggeri* ant infected by O. *camponoti-renggeri* (TAJ32) biting into a *Plagiochila* liverwort while gripping an *Octoblepharum* moss with its tarsal claws. Image credit: Tales Alves-Júnior et al.

The results revealed that the fungus was present not only in infected ants but also consistently in the surrounding mosses, including in plants located more than 10 metres away from any ant infected by the parasite.

In the Amazon, researchers had already noticed that some manipulated ant species predominantly seek out mosses to bite for the “death grip,” but little was known about a possible prior colonisation of the moss by the same insect-parasitising fungus.

DNA analyses showed that even highly host-specialised fungal lineages, such as O. camponoti-nidulantis (infecting Camponotus nidulans) and O. kniphofioides (infecting Cephalotes atratus), were sheltered within bryophytes in the surrounding vegetation.

*Ophiocordyceps* kniphofioides in a turtle ant (*Cephalotes* sp.), found attached to an *Octoblepharum* moss. Image credit: Tales Alves-Júnior.

The discovery reshapes our understanding of the life cycle of these fungi and how these organisms evolve and survive. The ability to associate with plants may help the fungus persist through periods when insect hosts are scarce, and could also help explain the intriguing fidelity of certain fungal lineages to specific moss types.

“We have always thought of this fungus (Ophiocordyceps) as a parasite exclusive to insects, especially the ones it manipulates. What our data suggest is that the story is much larger: the same fungus appears to be ubiquitous in the surrounding moss communities. Our results illustrate a far closer link between the lifecycles of the plants and fungi involved in the behavioral manipulation of Amazonian ants.”
Tales Alves Jr., biologist, Master’s in Botany from INPA and lead author of the study.

“The well-known behavioral manipulation caused by Ophiocordyceps may not result solely from the interaction between fungus and ant, but from a complex relationship among the fungus, its host, and the plant where the same fungus lives silently as an endophyte.”
João Paulo Machado de Araújo, co-author and researcher at the Natural History Museum of Denmark (University of Copenhagen).

Original source

Alves-Júnior T, Araújo JPM, Góes-Neto A, Mendes-Pereira T, Zartman CE (2026) Metabarcoding reveals a hidden endophytic stage of the ‘zombie-ant’ fungus in Amazonian mosses. IMA Fungus 17: e196998. https://doi.org/10.3897/imafungus.17.196998

New species of pea-size crab parasitizing a date mussel has a name of a Roman god

Tiny crabs, the size of a pea, dwell inside the mantles of various bivalves, living off the food filtered by their hosts. A new species of these curious crustaceans has recently been reported from the Solomon Islands, where an individual was found to parasitise a large date mussel.

Because of the new pea crab’s characteristic large additional plate, covering its upper carapace, giving it the illusion of having two faces, it has been named after Janus, the Roman two-faced god. Discoverers Dr Peter Ng, National University of Singapore, and Dr Christopher Meyer, U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, have their findings published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Being only the second species in the genus (the first was from Malaysia), the new pea crab Serenotheres janus can be distinguished by its broader carapace and other features. It is cream-yellow in colour. oo_106009

Both representatives of the genus are unique in having an additional large plate covering the upper side of the carapace. However, its purpose is still unknown. The two pea crabs are also the only known parasites of the rock-boring bivalves of the mytilid subfamily Lithophaginae.

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Original source:

Ng PKL, Meyer C (2016) A new species of pea crab of the genus Serenotheres Ahyong & Ng, 2005 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Pinnotheridae) from the date mussel Leiosolenus Carpenter, 1857 (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Mytilidae, Lithophaginae) from the Solomon Islands. ZooKeys 623: 31-41. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.623.10272

World’s smallest of giant flowers discovered in the Philippines

Some of the world’s giant flowers, those of the parasitic plant genus Rafflesia, can reach up to a meter and a half in diameter. Therefore, what could be more impressive about them are ‘dwarves’ such as the record-breaking one that was recently discovered by scientists from the University of the Philippines Diliman and the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Its average diameter is only 9.73 cm and has been named consueloae. The study is published in the open-access journal PhytoKeys.

Curiously enough, the discovery happened after a field assistant accidentally tripped over a pile of forest litter to expose a decayed flower. Later on, lead researcher Prof Perry S. Ong would describe the novel finding as “serendipitous”.

The new species is named Rafflesia consueloae in honor of Ms Consuelo ‘Connie’ Rufino Lopez, lifelong partner of Filipino industrialist Oscar M. Lopez. “With her demure, but strong personality traits, which Rafflesia consueloae also possesses, she provides the inspiration for Mr Lopez’s pursuit of biodiversity conservation in the Philippines,” Prof Ong says.

“Rafflesia flowers are unique in that they are entirely parasitic on roots and stems of specific vines in the forests and have no distinct roots, stems, or leaves of their own,” explains co-author Prof Edwino S. Fernando. “Thus, they are entirely dependent on their host plants for water and nutrients.”

In Sumatra and Borneo another species of the same genus, Rafflesia arnoldi, holds the record of being the largest single flower in the world with a diameter of up to 1.5 meter. In the Philippines, Rafflesia schadenbergiana, found only in Mindanao, is still large with a flower diameter of 0.8 meter. Professor Fernando, added that Rafflesia consueloae is the 6th species from Luzon Island and the 13th for the entire Philippine archipelago.

The new species has been classified as Critically Endangered, based on IUCN criteria as it has less than 100 km2 extent of occurrence with its two small populations. The continued protection of the populations of this species is important as some local people still hunt wildlife within the area and forest fires are likely in the dry season, factors which might threaten the survival of R. consueloae.

The field and laboratory work of the field scientists are part of the Comprehensive Biodiversity Conservation Monitoring Program of Pantabangan-Carranglan Project, funded by the First Gen Hydro Power Corportation (FGHPC) and Wildlife Forensics and DNA Barcoding of Philippine Biodiversity of the University of the Philippines Diliman – Department of the Environment and Natural Resources – Biodiversity Management Bureau (DENR-BMB).

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Original source:

Galindon JMM, Ong PS, Fernando ES (2016) Rafflesia consueloae (Rafflesiaceae), the smallest among giants; a new species from Luzon Island, Philippines. PhytoKeys 61: 37-46. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.61.7295

The first long-haired ones: New wasp group proposed for 5 new species from India

Long accustomed to parasitising spider eggs, a large worldwide genus of wasps has as few as 24 known representatives in India. However, Dr. Veenakumari, ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, and her team have recently discovered five new species of these interesting wasps from different parts of the country. Because of their uniqueness and their strong resemblance to each other, as well to aid taxonomic studies they have been considered as constituting a group of their own. The discoveries and the suggestion of ‘the first long-haired ones’ species group are available in the open-access journal Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift.

Among the unique features that bring together the new five species, discovered by Drs. Veenakumari Kamalanathan, Prashanth Mohanraj and F. R. Khan, are the long hair-like structures along the margins of both of their wings. This is also the reason behind the authors’ choice of naming the proposed group adikeshavus, meaning ‘first one to have long hairs’ in Sanskrit.

Within this parasitic superfamily of wasps each group has been long accustomed to a specific host. The tribe to which the new five wasp species belong, for instance, is characterised by its exclusive preference for spider eggs. Parallel evolution accounts for the tiny wings of these wasps which allows them to slip through the silk strands of the egg sacs which are deposited in leaf litter by the spiders. Furthermore, all these species have a uniform length of 1 to 2 mm as a result of their getting used to parasitising relatively medium-sized spider eggs.

With over a thousand species supposed to exist in this genus the scientists suggest that their clustering into groups is a necessity to facilitate future studies.

The authors conclude that it is highly likely that this group of wasps will yield a much larger number of species of parasitoids attacking spider eggs in India.

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Original source:

Kamalanathan V, Mohanraj P, Khan FR (2015) ‘The adikeshavus-group’: A new species group of Idris Förster (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae) from India, with descriptions of five new species. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 62(2): 247-260. doi: 10.3897/dez.62.6219

Parasite vs. Invader: New endoparasitoid wasp can save the Dominican Republic economy

While biocontrol agents come in different shapes, often taking a lot of time for scientists to research, test and produce, natural ones always seem to be the better option. Now that Drs. Taveras and Hansson have discovered a new parasitoid wasp species in the Dominican Republic, they might have not only met the worst natural enemy for a widely spread invasive pest corrupting a large part of the essential pigeon pea crops. They are likely to have found a whole new field for investigation into the potential weapons against the eradicator of up to 76% of the essential crop. Their study is available in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research.

The find of this new gregarious endoparasitoid wasp, called Pediobius cajanus, is also the first time representative of this genus has been retrieved from the Asian fly. This invasive pest is estimated to destroy a huge part of the pigeon pea crops, a culture which is an essential food source for tropical America, a large part of the export and even has medicinal value. Therefore, the new species is very important not only in terms of the exploration of the biodiversity in Latin America, but also in economical sense.

Even when treated regularly with insecticides, the Asian fly manages to corrupt as much as 27% of the Dominican pigeon pea crops, a previous study shows. Although a precise figure of the damage cannot be provided due to large variations between localities and the impossibility of tracking the whole span of the pea cultivation areas, there is the case of the town of Rancho Los Vargas, Puerto Plata, where in 2012 the loss of the culture reached 76%.

On the other hand, the new wasp species was found to kill an average of 25% of the Asian fly larvae in the researched areas. In comparison, the previously known enemies of the pest are accountable for only 2%. This is why the scientists are now proposing the new species as a biocontrol agent.

In conclusion, the authors suggest that the parasitoid wasp is likely distributed across a much larger area. They believe that the new species could also be found over the entire island of Hispaniola, on neighbouring islands in the Caribbean and even in the tropical parts of the mainland in the Americas. Its record and distribution both call for a further investigation into the potential implementation of the wasp in controlling the Asian fly.

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Original source:

Taveras R, Hansson C (2015) Pediobius cajanus sp. n. (Hymenoptera, Eulophidae), an important natural enemy of the Asian fly (Melanagromyza obtusa (Malloch)) (Diptera, Agromyzidae) in the Dominican Republic. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 45: 41-54. doi: 10.3897/JHR.45.4964