Hyper-sexual ‘zombie cicadas’ infected with bizarre STD fungus will emerge in US
These loudmouth bugs will soon be brainwashed horndogs.
A creepy sexually transmitted fungus is expected to morph millions of cicadas into hyper-horny “zombies” by hijacking their bodies so they’ll spread the infection in parts of the US this spring, according to scientists.
The horror-movie style fungal pathogen, known as Massospora cicadina, will cause the insects mate like crazy in parts of the Southeast and Midwest — as record numbers of the noisy bugs emerge from the ground, an expert told CBS News.
The fungus causes a chalky white plug to burst through the insects’ backsides, taking over their brains and causing their genitals to fall off.
It then acts as a “puppet master” by sending a flood of adrenaline to help males pose as females in order to pass the infection through sex.
“In that way, the fungus is sexually transmissible. So, it spreads like an STD,” Matthew Kasson, an associate professor of Mycology and Forest Pathology at West Virginia University, told CBS.
“There’s this hyper-sexualized behavior. So, males for example, they’ll continue to try and mate with females — unsuccessfully, because again, their back end is a fungus,” he said.
“But they’ll also pretend to be females to get males to come to them. And that doubles the number of cicadas that an infected individual comes in contact with.”
Periodical cicadas spend most of their lives underground, popping up every 13 or 17 years depending on the breed.
This year, two species of cicadas will emerge likely between late April and June — causing trillions of the bugs to swarm the states simultaneously for the first time in more than 200 years.
Brood XIX, will pop up in states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia.
Brood XIII, by contrast, will appear in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
Both species are vulnerable to the strange infection, Kasson said.
“The cicada continues to participate in normal activities, like it would if it was healthy,” Kasson said. “Like it tries to mate, it flies around, it walks on plants. Yet, a third of its body has been replaced by fungus. That’s really kind of bizarre.”
Male cicadas generally make a loud humming sound to attract female mates while lady insects flick their wings to show they want to get busy.
But the zombie fungus makes males flick their wings for a same-sex hookup.
It’s not clear if the infection will affect other wildlife or humans — but thousands of compounds can become infected cicadas, Kasson said.
“We know that a lot of animals are gobbling these cicadas up as they’re emerging — snakes and birds. Is it possible they’re having an effect on the animals that eat them? Yes, it is possible.”
Scientists suspect spores from the fungus lay dormant in the soil before infecting cicadas underground.
Overall, less than 5% of the trillion of cicadas expected to emerge will likely be infected by the fungus, he said.
Researchers haven’t seen any impact on other forms of wildlife.
