News Paleontology

Zombifying fungi have been infecting insects for 99 million years

Ancient amber trapped Ophiocordyceps spores bursting from a fly and an ant pupa 

Illustration of a forest scene from 99 million years ago where an adult worker ant carries a fungus-infected ant pupa, while a fly with fungi bursting out of its back climbs up a tree.

An adult worker ant carries a fungus-infected ant pupa, while a fly with a fungus bursting out of its back climbs up a tree in this artist’s reconstruction of a fossil-inspired scene from 99 million years ago.

Dinghua Yang

By Sofia Caetano Avritzer

Read another version of this article at Science News Explores

Nearly 100 million years ago, a droplet of tree resin captured a gruesome scene: a fungus bursting out of the body of an ant pupa.