Melissa Justine Ishler
Research Technologist - Hughes Lab
Huck Affiliations
News Articles Featuring Melissa Justine Ishler
Jul 17, 2019
Now We Know How The Zombie Ant Gets Its Bite
How do we begin to comprehend the astonishing complexity of a fungus that invades an ant’s body, grows throughout its tissues, and orders the host to climb up a tree and bite onto a twig, killing it and exploding out the back of its head to rain down spores on more ants below?
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Jul 17, 2019
Zombifying fungus bypasses the brain to make ants its puppets, study finds
SEM images showed strange bead-like particles that could also play a role.
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Jul 17, 2019
A deadly fungus gives ‘zombie’ ants a case of lockjaw
Closeups of infected ants’ jaw muscles may reveal clues to how the fungi take over
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Jul 17, 2019
How a Deadly Invading Fungus Forces "Zombie" Ants Into a Final Death Grip
Zombification may be the stuff of science fiction for humans, but for insects, getting zombified is a very real threat. Scientists and Planet Earth afficionados may recall the cases of ants found clinging to high leaves and twigs with a strange, nefarious fungus sprouting from their corpses.
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