The mushroom of the “last of us” has already inflicted chaos during dinosaurs

He mushroom The last of us exists. Well, more or less. It is true that he does not make people in a zombie, but does it with insects. Genre fungi Ophiocordyceps They can infect some of these invertebrates, such as ants, and process them to their will to take even more victims for infection. This is happening today, but also about 100 million years agoWhen dinosaurs still walked around the face of the Earth.

Recently he showed a team of scientists from University UniversityIn China, in a study published in Proceedings of the Society of the Royal Family bField In it, they describe the conclusion Two samples of insects preserved in amberfrom which fruitful bodies of the fungus of the ancestor appear, from which he now inspired the mushroom The last of usField

Something interesting that each sample corresponds to another insect. In one, the mushroom attacked the ant, and in the other – on the fly. This shows that these mushrooms have already diversified a lot of time to infect various types of insects, as they could convert. Basically, how they do it today.

Like a mushroom that inspired The last of us is a mushroom?

Mushroom The last of us Inspired by genre mushrooms OphiocordycepsThese field They have the ability to infect insects And instead of killing them quickly, support them so that they can transport it to other insects to infect.

For example, Modus OperandWhen infected, the ant looks as follows. As soon as the infection occurs, it quickly captures the brain of insects, remarkably changing their behaviorThe ant is rising through the trunks of trees, much higher than what usually does. Once at the top, he fits on the branch and dies just in time to allow the fungus to appear, that he will release their disputes and throw them into a much wider space than if the whole process occurred at a level of land.

Therefore, something similar to what is happening with the fungus The last of usAnts become zombies. But not only an ant. It was evident that many other insects can also be infected.

Was there the same thing during dinosaurs?

It is impossible to hear about amber and insects and not think about Jurassic ParkThe field of history is based precisely with the fact that DNA was used in a mosquito, preserved in amber, to return dinosaurs. A mosquito cut a dinosaur, retained his DNA inside and, VoilaThe field of dinosaurs is everywhere.

This is still a fiction. But it is true that amber, from Fosilized resin of some treesIt can perpetuate all types of scenes for millions of years. In this case, we have two insects that may have been buried by resin when they tried to fulfill the mission entrusted to the fungus. Find death in a place where a good amount of disputes could pour.

These two mushrooms are the oldest that were found after another found in 2008, which, in the visible, comes from Cretaceous. The gender to which they belong is the same: Paleophio -KordipcepsIn the case of ants, the views were baptized as Paleophio -Kordippeps GenerafermicaeAnd within the framework of the fly as P. IRONMYAE.

It is believed that this genre was separated from who now inspires the mushroom The last of us approximately 130 million years. This is not known about him anymore, since it is not easy to find parasitized insects, but these two samples, which are now in the Museum of the Natural History of London, show us that the zombification of insects is not new. Dinosaurs were not the most threatening living creatures of that time.