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posted by martyb on Tuesday September 19 2017, @05:16AM   Printer-friendly
from the better-keep-them-away-from-classic-volkswagons dept.

Goldenrod soldier beetles are common in Arkansas, Steinkraus said. They feed on the pollen of flowering frost aster, common boneset and Canada goldenrod. The beetles produce one brood each mating season and are known to use flowers as leks—gathering places where males display behavior aimed at attracting mates.

This is where E. lampyridarum plants its zombie curse.

The pathogen causes an infected beetle to land on a flower and latch on tightly with its mandibles. The insect then dies, firmly locked onto the flower by its jaws.

Steinkraus said latching onto flowers with their mouths is not typical behavior for healthy soldier beetles. Normally, they cling to the plants with their feet. After dying from this fungal infection, however, the beetles remain anchored to the flowers only by their mandibles. Neither their legs nor fungal rhizoids are involved in the attachment.
...
Roughly 12 to 22 hours after death, the zombeetle opens its wing covers and spreads its wings. Somehow, Steinkraus said, the fungus is acting upon the wing muscles—which more closely resemble origami than, say, biceps—and making them move even though the beetle is dead.
...
The insect's posture begins to change dramatically as fungal tissue growth swells its abdomen. More than 24 hours after death—usually on the night of the following day—spores erupt through the membranes separating the abdominal segments.
...
The spores do not explode out of the beetles, Steinkraus said. In observations, including under stereomicroscopes, the spores are not found on the opened wings or on collection plates in the laboratory. The spores remain on the abdomen and appear to transfer to other beetles through passive contact.

You have to touch the zombeetle to become a zombeetle.

The fungus causes the zombie beetle to move after it's dead.


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  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by DannyB on Tuesday September 19 2017, @12:50PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 19 2017, @12:50PM (#570162) Journal

    in real life, to become a zombie, you have to be dusted with zombie powder

    In real life, becoming a Zombie is one of the side effects listed on an outrageously priced drug, advertised on TV, that people didn't know they needed, but are uncontrollably brainwashed into pressuring their doctor into writing a <script src="zombie.js">.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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