Zombie fly fungus lures healthy male flies to mate with female corpses | Hacker News Reader

Zombie fly fungus lures healthy male flies to mate with female corpses

news.ku.dk

27 pointsyamrzou22 comments

Those of us lucky enough to live in middle and upper class lifestyles in advanced economies are wrapped up in artificial Disneyland bubbles of our own creation.

Life on average isn't sipping morning lattes, taking trips to the beach, or attending Pilates class. It's a brutal dog eat dog game of energy being captured and exploited. Life being snuffed out and chemicals being digested and repurposed.

A level higher, the physics of solar birth and death, asteroid impacts, and cosmic radiation are blind, uncaring, and absolute.

Our modern and luxurious experiences have been very short lived and do not reflect the typical animal life on earth.

Nature is brutal. It's really quite something to marvel at.

If you are interested in this subject, Carl Zimmer wrote a great book that has all sorts of examples of parasites that control their host: "Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures"

https://www.amazon.com/Parasite-Rex-Bizarre-Dangerous-Creatu...

> As male flies copulate with dead females, the fungal spores are showered onto the males, who then suffer the same gruesome fate.

That doesn't seem right - it seems like it would restrict the male -> female transmission vector.

Either way, pheromone traps are an interesting concept; they don't even need to trap the victims, just separate the males and females to prevent them from breeding.

I'm guessing the males don't suffer their fate immediately, and go on to spread the fungus to living females.

Perhaps the fungus causes dead male flies to attract other male flies.

If male flies normally don’t produce the sesquiterpene pheromones, and the fungus does, and pheremones are the primary way females are recognised, then . . .

Also in ducks (no need for fungal encouragement): https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/mar/08/highereduc...

I'm willing to bet that the immediate impact of this on the size of the fly population is negligible, so the trait is selected for in the short to medium term. In the longer term, as the fungus spreads, it may be a victim of its own success. Fungi don't really understand sustainability.

What the HELL, Nature?!

I'm sure some enterprising screenwriter will discover this and have a new muse.

Seems like an awesome midjourney prompt for somebody to run.

Whoa, could there be a parasite that alters HUMAN behavior?!

Most of them do!

Good, meanwhile, and in spite of living in "1st world", having been born in a 3rd world country I'll continue my semestral parasite pills.

Please go on!

Be careful about where that idea takes you...

Someone will be along with an e-meter soon to test how you're operating.

Good old L Ron. Whatta guy.

The Goa'uld. Stargate was as much science as fiction.

I'm sure there's lots more info available, but a quick and dirty reply:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-altering_parasite