{"id":2628,"date":"2026-08-09T13:24:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T12:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/spider-mimics-zombie-fungus-to-trick-predators-and-prey\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T13:24:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T12:24:35","slug":"spider-mimics-zombie-fungus-to-trick-predators-and-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/spider-mimics-zombie-fungus-to-trick-predators-and-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Spider Mimics Zombie Fungus to Trick Predators and Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Spiders are often rightly hailed as the masters of camouflage. While some are known for disguising themselves as insects, a species new to science perfectly imitates a formidable fungal parasite.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Taczanowskia waska<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Evidence of the effectiveness of such a ruse, scientists initially thought the specimen they were observing, suspended beneath a leaf and perfectly motionless, had fallen victim to <em>Gibellula<\/em>, a genus of pathogenic fungi closely related to the famous <em>Cordyceps<\/em>, at the heart of the plot of <em>The Last of Us<\/em>.<\/p>\n<section class=\"incontent-related\"><span class=\"incontent-related__title\">Read also<\/span> <span class=\"incontent-related__desc\">Orcas filmed as they slam into moonfish at high speed<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Infiltrating its host through its mycelium (a network of root-like filaments), the zombie fungus gradually grows inside its tissues. At a certain stage, the spider develops small antenna-like structures, which then release spores capable of infecting its peers.<\/p>\n<p>Named <em>Taczanowskia waska<\/em>, the new species thrives in the tropical forests of Ecuador. It is believed that its clever disguise helps it fool both predators and prey alike.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>The pale coloration of the abdomen, speckled with small white spines, perfectly mimics the fungus\u2019 mycelium<\/em>,\u201d write the authors of the new study, published in the journal <em>Zootaxa<\/em>. \u201c<em>Its two yellowish, cottony-coated tubercles are also closely similar to the stromata [the famous antennae mentioned above] of Gibellula<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"incontent-related\"><span class=\"incontent-related__title\">Read also<\/span> <span class=\"incontent-related__desc\">By tracing the trajectories of their peers in the sky, Andean condors save up to 41% of energy<\/span><\/section>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"730\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786278273_544_Spider-Mimics-Zombie-Fungus-to-Trick-Predators-and-Prey.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1013261\"  ><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Citizen science and international collaboration<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>According to the team, the arachnid was initially photographed by a member of the online platform <em>iNaturalist<\/em>. A handful of individuals were subsequently collected and compared with specimens from museum collections around the world. A close match was established with an arachnid collected in Bolivia in 1903 and preserved in Germany.<\/p>\n<p>The observation of similar traits suggests that at least four other spider species, two of which are new to science, mimic fungal infections with a striking level of detail.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, researchers had noted that certain Cyclosa spiders create \u201c<em>giant scarecrows<\/em>,\u201d helping them dodge an otherwise undesirable fate.<\/p>\n<section class=\"incontent-related\"><span class=\"incontent-related__title\">Read also<\/span> <span class=\"incontent-related__desc\">The ocean&#8217;s top predator escapes by listening to the cries of a cetacean that is much smaller than itself<\/span><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2087,2085,2088,308,1980,472,2086],"class_list":["post-2628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-fungus","tag-mimics","tag-predators","tag-prey","tag-spider","tag-trick","tag-zombie","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2630,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628\/revisions\/2630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}