‘The Last of Us’ on Eight Legs | A newly discovered species of spider in the Ecuadorean Amazon mimics a pathogen, known as a zombie fungus, to protect itself.
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neutronbumblebee@mander.xyz 37 minutes ago
"the fungal mimicry was without a doubt super crazy and very surprising,” he said. The spider imitates the fruiting body of the fungus — the hornlike structures on its abdomen — by having abdominal prolongations on its own body.
Dr. Díaz-Guevara said that effectively, “over time, a spider has evolved to realize that if it mimics something that is dead, the chances of being hunted are low.”