New parasitic fungi found that turn ants into zombies

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from the US and UK have discovered four new species of parasitic fungi in the Brazilian rainforests. The fungi attack four distinct species of ants and release mind-altering chemicals that gradually ...

New fungus is the oldest disease-causing species found to date

The earliest disease-causing fungus has been discovered within the Natural History Museum's fossil collections. The new fungal plant pathogen, Potteromyces asteroxylicola, which is 407-million-years-old, has been named in ...

A feline fungus joins the new species list

(Phys.org) —A new species of fungus that causes life-threatening infections in humans and cats has been discovered by a University of Sydney researcher.

Newly discovered protein in fungus bypasses plant defenses

A protein that allows the fungus which causes white mold stem rot in more than 600 plant species to overcome plant defenses has been identified by a team of U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service and ...

Frog killing fungus found to infect crayfish too

(Phys.org)—A team of US biologists has found that the chytrid fungus, believed to be responsible for amphibian deaths worldwide, also infects and kills crayfish. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National ...

'Superfungus' threatens last Panamanian golden frogs

Cocooned from the outside world, some 200 critically endangered golden frogs are living a sheltered existence in Panama, protected from a devastating fungus that threatens to wipe out a third of the country's amphibian species—a ...

Meet the enemy of killer fungus that turns ants into zombies

One of most famous fungi in the world is the "zombie ant fungus". It takes over the mind of an ant, causing it to climb up a branch and cling to the underside of a leaf before mummification. Once locked in place, the mushroom-like ...

Fatal fungus found in third major amphibian group, caecilians

It is known as the amphibian chytrid fungus and can cause a deadly disease that is decimating some of the world's frogs, toads, newts and salamanders. However, the fungus had not been detected in the other lesser-known major ...

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