Abandoned gunpowder reservoirs are today's nature reserves, protruding from the small hills of the globe. It's the perfect place for spiders. Semi Subterian, cool and dark. But in 2021, crews working on the BBC Nature Program discovered more than the average Knid hiding there. They found a spider dead from the lace white fungus erupting from its body.
Scientists published last month in a paper published in Fungic Lineage and Evolution Journal, a newly discovered species that spreads spores by hijacking spiders and turning unlucky arcnides into zombies. . This evolutionary strategy was made famous by Ophiocordyceps, a zombie Ant bacteria that influenced the video game and HBO show The Last of Us. This spider version is far-reaching to its fungus.
Volunteers at the Castle Spe Wetland Centre near Belfast were supporting the BBC filmmakers when they noticed the infected spider. The specimen photographs headed to Harry Evans, an honorary fellow at CAB International, a nonprofit focused on agricultural and environmental studies. “I assumed it was an unknown or unusual species and asked for a specimen when the filming was finished,” said Dr. Evans, author of the paper.
When the BBC programme aired, cave explorer Tim Fogg contacted Dr. Evans and said he had observed similar fungi in caves in Ireland. Each of Mr. Fogg's five infected spiders collected was swallowed by small, entangled bushes of fungi.
Joan Araujo, author of a paper at the Museum of Natural History of Denmark and curator of mycologies, believes that when spores arrived at the spider, they had bred a reproductive duct-like structure that fungi excavated. I said that. Arknid exoskeleton. Once inside, Dr. Arauho said that “it basically takes over almost the entire body of a spider.”
Like their counterparts in the Belfast Reserve, the spiders that Mr. Fogg observed were raw in an open space near the entrance to the cave before dying. This positioning supports the parasitic agenda of fungi. It will capture airflow and spread the spores as efficiently as possible, Dr. Araujo said.
Dr. Evans proposed to name the bacteria Gibellula attenboroughi in honor of naturalist and broadcaster David Attenboroughi. Attenborough has played a key role in the success of the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, which indirectly helped lead to the discovery of new fungal species.
Charissa de Bekker, a molecular ecologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, said he was not involved in the study. Especially because it revealed something important about the Arknids and the world they live in.
“Spiders are highly misunderstood creatures,” said Dr. De Becker. “They are both predators and are ahead of them, so they are important elements of the food network. Understanding the parasites they get and what infections they get is something that we can get is what we want. We may better understand these ecosystems.”
Dr. Araujo said it is important to learn “who are these fungi, which insects and arthropods become infected, how they evolve, and where they come from.” Zombie bacteria could help control agricultural pests, he says, and the chemicals produced by Ophiocordis relatives are already being used in drugs to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients.
“These are natural chemists and the only source of new antibiotics and other drugs for the future,” Dr. Evans said. “We must find a way to identify these before more natural ecosystems disappear along with fungi.”
