The BBC reports that northern England is currently under attack by exploding zombie caterpillars.
From the report:
Caterpillars are being killed by a bug which turns them into "exploding zombies", a wildlife expert has said. Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside Wildlife Trust said the skins of insects have been found on Winmarleigh Moss, near Garstang.
The caterpillars usually eat heather and bilberry but are being infected by a baculovirus which causes them to seek light so they climb up trees where they explode and the baculovirus is released to seek new hosts.
Fortunately higher animals such as humans are immune from such things ... or not!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 03 2017, @07:56PM (1 child)
None.
Scientists have replicated this phenomenon in a laboratory setting. I forget if they identified which viral proteins are responsible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 03 2017, @09:21PM
The viral protein necessary is known:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25443568/ [nih.gov]