Photo of Zombie Fungus Infecting Insect Wins Ecology Competition
A photo of a “zombie” fungus that killed a fly and then erupted from its body has won the BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition 2022.
The astonishing image was taken by Roberto García-Roa, an evolutionary biologist and conservation photographer, who captured the unsettling photo in the Peruvian jungle of Tambopata.
García-Roa explains that “spores of the so-called ‘Zombie’ (genera Ophiocordyceps) fungus infect arthropods by infiltrating their exoskeleton and minds.”
