NATURE: Now There Are Zombie Sex Flies
A deadly fungus infects and controls the minds of house flies, before consuming them from the inside out — and that’s just the start of its gruesome reproductive strategy. As the fungus’s grand finale, its spores, which poke from the cadavers of infected female flies, emit an alluring scent that seduces males into mating with the corpses. When the pathogenic fungus Entomophthora muscae infects house flies (Musca domestica), it begins by manipulating their behavior, compelling the flies to climb to an elevated surface, like a tall plant stem or twig. The zombie flies then cling and die there with their … Read more
