Our Insects Were Infected with Zombie Fungus

This is our collection of insects that have been infected by parasitic fungi. Some people will call a parasitic fungus a "zombie fungus". This is because the fungi can "infect" an insect's body and its mind. Others call them cordyceps, but that's only one genus of parasitic fungi. In this video, you will find a parasitized moth, spider, larvae, caterpillar, and cicada.

This video answers the following questions:
- What is parasitic fungi?
- What is zombie fungus?
- What insects are parasitized by zombie fungus?
- Does fungus kill insects?
- Can fungus control an insect's mind?

Specimen use made possible by the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology and Herbarium.

[Sacred_Ivory_Rose]

A little more information on this fungal genus: It’s called Cordyceps and has roughly 600 species under the genus. Each species of cordyceps hyper-fixates on one kind of insect or spider, so one species of cordyceps that infects moths cannot infect ants.
It’s also used in medical practices.

Fun fact: cordyceps is the fungus that inspired the fungus from The Last of Us games.

[TimTimTheTim]

Okay but you can’t end it without addressing why I’m not gonna get infected 😳

[Axodized]

Imagine just being a bug, inhaling a spore and when you wake up you're completely engulfed

edit: spelling

[Snow_]

“Cute” is not one of the words I’d describe this 💀

[Delphini_Zucchini]

Him: “There’s something very wrong with this moth!”
Me: “wait that’s a moth-!?”

[ironwillACNH]

Awe, sweet! Naturally made horrors beyond my comprehension!

[L_Train]

Poor cicada survived being underground for 7 years only to come up and get a terrible fungus attached to it. I guess that better than the ones who just slam headfirst into my windshield though. Or the ones that get stepped on. Or the ones that I always find piled up by the back door. Maybe the worst fate is being caught by a bug they call the "cicada killer". Its a giant ugly hornet look it up. If you've ever seen one swoop a cicada out of the air with the thing screaming the whole time it's impressive.

[mtoffo]

this is exactly the type of content I neither wanna see nor can look away from

[Jack-plbz]

Group of male cicadas: "shit that one fine"
Tries to mate with an infected male: "Jerry is that you? Wtf bro"

[matteogreco]

0:50 "But I was wrong, they also affect humans"

[DangDaVillage]

You know it gets more scarier when you realize it can also infect the biggest insects, save yourself if your fear is insects

[MorrisWilsonFvcks]

The last of us really made the zombie fungus more popular. I'm starting to see more videos about this topic.

[burger_]

Imagine being a cicada that nobody loves then you find a female cicada only to realize it’s a trap

[ladyterror]

I always forget how absolutely drop dead gorgeous cicadas are up close. We get a ton of them each year around where I live and I only just learned about them surviving underground for years before they become adults. I really want to get a model of one or a very nice painting of them, absolutely adore these insects.

[oqorrwakkxyccplus]

This thing really be turning male cicadas into femboys 💀

[tubofficial]

Imagining time!
0:01 Urchin Moth
0:42 Winged Urchin Moth
0:51 Cotton Spider
1:08 Sprout Larva
1:14 Long-Necked Sprout Larva
1:18 Giraffe-Like Sprout Larva
1:45 Femboy Cicada

[libraryofpangea]

Something to note,
Massospora cicadina the cicada entomopathgenic fungi
is in the Entomophthoromycota zygote fungi
While the moth infecting Cordyceps fungi is in the Ascomycota phyla or dikaryotic sac fungi.

Which makes them each as different from each other as a centipede is from a snake.

[americangirl]

Hopefully nothing like this will ever evolve to do this to us.

[jaydenwong]

It’s scary to think that this could happen while we were doing our own business

[williamadams]

I love the content you put out! I use them all the time in my 9th grade biology classes to pique their interest and encourage development of their deductive reason skills.