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Attack of the ancient 'zombie' ants

Nature (2010)Cite this article

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Fossil leaf bears the telltale scars of insects infected by parasitic fungus.

Researchers claim to have found the first evidence of 'zombie' ants in the fossil record. They have matched peculiar cuts on a 48-million-year-old fossil leaf with the 'death bites' made by modern ants infected by a fungal parasite. The research is published today in Biology Letters1.

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References

  1. Hughes, D. P., Wappler, T. & Labandeira, C. C. Biol. Lett. advance online publication doi:10.1098/rsbl.2010.0521 (2010).

  2. Andersen, S. B. et al. Am. Nat. 174, 424-433 (2009).

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Authors
  1. Kate Larkin
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Kate Larkin is a British Science Association Media Fellow 2010.

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Scientific American: Fungus makes zombie ants do all the work

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Conrad Labandeira

David Hughes

Torsten Wappler

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Larkin, K. Attack of the ancient 'zombie' ants. Nature (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2010.415

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2010.415

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