Massospora, in case you’re not familiar with them, emerge in droves every 13 to 17 years. They’re a different species from annual cicadas, which usually appear in July and August each year, Kasson says.
Typically, it’s periodical cicadas that become “zombies.” Given how rarely they surface, it can be tough to study them, Kasson says. Still, his team managed to find out a few things. Here’s everything you need to know about these strange insects.
“The fungus produces really interesting psychoactive compounds, one of which is amphetamine, which would give increased stamina and prolonged wakefulness in the cicadas,” Kasson says. So, zombie cicadas may be able to fly around more and stay up longer than regular cicadas .They’re also big on mating. “Infected males will mate with females, but they’re unsuccessful because their backside is a fungal plug,” Kasson says. “At the same time, they’re spreading this fungus around like an STD.
And then there’s a really creepy thing that can happen when a healthy male tries to mate with an infected female. The abdomens of infected females are “a lot slower to fall off” than males and, due to that, an infected female’s genitalia will crumble and break off after a male mates with her. “The male will then fly around with female genitalia still attached to them,” Kasson says. “It shows how grotesque, but fascinating these fungal parasites are.
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