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Walking Dead: How Wasps Control Spider Zombies

posted by cmn32480 on Friday August 07 2015, @11:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the one-more-reason-to-hate-bugs dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Like a mindless zombie controlled by a menacing overlord, the spider scampers back and forth, reinforcing its silky web. Not long from now, the subservient arachnid will be dead, its web transformed into a shelter for the spawn of the creature that once controlled it, according to a new study.

No, this isn't science fiction; it's the somewhat terrifying (but very real) tale of the orb-weaving spider Cyclosa argenteoalba and the parasitic wasp Reclinervellus nielseni, two species that carry out a strange relationship in Hyogo prefecture, Japan.
...
That's why R. nielseni doesn't just direct its host to build a resting web; it instructs the spider to build a superstrong resting web, one chock-full of reinforced threads that hold the web — and the wasp-filled cocoon at its center — in place for long stretches of time, the researchers found.

Using a tensile machine, Takasuka and his colleagues tested the breaking forces (how much force a material can handle before breaking) of the radius and frame silks used to construct a so-called "cocoon" web and found that they were at least 2.7 times greater than the breaking forces of the silks that made up both the orb and the resting webs of C. argenteoalba.

The researchers suspect the wasp larva releases a hormone into the spider that mimics the signal to molt. With precedents in nature, perhaps the Zombie Apocalypse isn't so far-fetched after all.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Friday August 07 2015, @12:13PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 07 2015, @12:13PM (#219532) Journal
    Even a fungus [wikipedia.org] can do it

    O. unilateralis, also referred to as a zombie fungus, infects ants of the Camponotini tribe, with the full pathogenesis being characterized by alteration of the behavioral patterns of the infected ant. Infected hosts leave their canopy nests and foraging trails for the forest floor, an area with a temperature and humidity suitable for fungal growth; they then use their mandibles to affix themselves to a major vein on the underside of a leaf, where the host remains until its eventual death.The process leading to mortality takes 4–10 days, and includes a reproductive stage where fruiting bodies grow from the ant's head, rupturing to release the fungus' spores.

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday August 07 2015, @12:36PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday August 07 2015, @12:36PM (#219539) Journal

    Right, so you could weaponize the fungus for human hosts, drop it on your enemy's population centers, and wait for chaos to ensue.

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    Washington DC delenda est.

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 07 2015, @12:47PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 07 2015, @12:47PM (#219545) Journal
      Better than weaponize wasps for the same purpose, don't you think?
      Be it for the only reason I'm yet to see humans secreting web spiders for the wasps progeny.
      (grin)
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      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday August 07 2015, @03:45PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday August 07 2015, @03:45PM (#219606) Journal

        I'm yet to see humans secreting web spiders for the wasps progeny.

        I see you've never eaten natto [wikipedia.org].

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        Washington DC delenda est.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 07 2015, @04:00PM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 07 2015, @04:00PM (#219609) Journal

          I see you've never eaten natto.

          Indeed, I haven't. But somehow I have a hunch the slime in natto isn’t produced by humans, am I wrong?

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          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

          • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday August 07 2015, @04:11PM

            by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday August 07 2015, @04:11PM (#219611) Journal

            But somehow I have a hunch the slime in natto isn’t produced by humans, am I wrong?

            Oh, it's not about how it goes in.

            --
            Washington DC delenda est.

    • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday August 07 2015, @01:11PM

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 07 2015, @01:11PM (#219549) Journal

      Or you could just use anthrax or smallpox. Much more infectious, much harder to contain. Who gives a fuck if it turns people into "zombies", particularly since all cordycepts does is motivate ants to seek high ground to disperse spores when it dies.