Fossil Reveals History of Zombie Ants
By Chandrajit, Gaea News NetworkThursday, August 19, 2010
BERLIN, GERMANY (GaeaTimes.com) — Its a 48 Million Year Old Fossil that reveals the existence of Zombie Ants. Researchers in Germany have discovered a old leaf fossil that depicts a deadly fungus that attacked ants, thereby turning them into zombies.
The discovery was made by a Team from the University of Exeter, led by Dr. David P. Hughes. The site is on the eastern site of the Rhine Rift Valley in Hesse, Germany.
The biological name of the fungus is Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. It has been reported that the fungus leads the ant to a leaf where the ant dies due to the fungus. The body of the ant stays behind leaving the fungus to grow upon it.
“This leaf shows clear signs of one well documented form of zombie-parasite, a fungus which infects ants and then manipulates their behaviour,”
Hughes said in an Interview today.
Hughes claims that this is the oldest evidence that the parasites have left behind.
