99-Million-Year-Old Amber Reveals Fungus Turned Flies Into Zombies Long Before Humans Existed
A fungus began producing zombies even before humans ever set foot on the planet. Researchers have discovered a spooky scene preserved in 99-million-year-old amber from Myanmar: a tiny fly and an ant with gory tendrils protruding from their heads that are infested with a mind-controlling fungus. To learn more, scroll down.
Dinosaurs controlled the planet 99 million years ago. An eerie sight captured in old tree resin showed a little insect that had been transformed into a “zombie,” as evidenced by the deadly fungus that was growing out of its head. The insect had been killed by the fungus after it had taken over its body. Scientists have now uncovered this scenario, demonstrating that the concept of zombie-like illnesses is real and occurred in nature a long time ago.
Scientists found a scene from a horror film in 100-million-year-old amber from Myanmar: an ant and a fly, both frozen in time with fungus exploding through their heads. An ancient fungus known as Ophiocordyceps, which still controls ants’ thoughts today and transforms them into actual “zombies” before killing them, is responsible for the twisted growths.
Researchers have also discovered Paleoophiocordyceps, another ancient fungus that not only kills its victims but also takes over their body after they pass away. This fungus helped transfer its spores to other locations by causing the dead insects to stir and twitch. The weird things emerging from flies’ and ants’ heads? These are the fruiting bodies of the fungus, which are its reproductive organs.
An Actual Zombie Tale from the Age of Dinosaurs
Researchers Yuhui Zhuang and his colleagues found two new species of this fungus, Palaeophiocordyceps gerontoformica and Palaeophiocordyceps ironomaia, using 3D scans of insects trapped in amber. This demonstrates that insects’ “zombie-like” behaviour is nothing new—in fact, it has existed for millions of years.
The victims are typically poor ants
These days, however, this unsettling fungus primarily targets ants, takes over their minds, and forces them to ascend to higher altitudes before killing them, allowing its spores to proliferate. However, in this uncommon finding, a fly rather than an ant became infected. Scientists are particularly excited because it is quite uncommon to find a fly preserved like this in tree resin. It provides a unique and intriguing look into the behaviour of this mind-controlling fungus millions of years ago.
Since the sticky tree resin helped preserve both the insects’ bodies and the horrifying fungal growths in stunning clarity even after over 100 million years, it seems likely that these insects had already died before becoming entangled in it.
Scientists are in awe of this amazing discovery, which provides evidence that strange and unsettling occurrences, similar to those we typically witness in horror films, have been a part of nature’s narrative for millions of years. Not only is it science fiction, but the idea of a fungus transforming its victims into mindless puppets is a true, old-fashioned nightmare from Earth’s history.
