Ant parasite 3 (IMAGE)

Oregon State University

Ant parasite 3

Caption

Oregon State University research has identified the oldest known specimen of a fungus parasitizing an ant, and the fossil also represents a new fungal genus and species. A mushroom is the reproductive structure of many fungi, including the ones you find growing in your yard, and OSU's George Poinar Jr. and a collaborator in France named their discovery Allocordyceps baltica. They found the new type of Ascomycota fungi in an ant preserved in 50-million-year-old amber from Europe's Baltic region. The mushroom is coming out of the ant's rectum, and vegetative part of the fungus is emerging from its abdomen and neck. (image courtesy George Poinar Jr.)

Credit

George Poinar Jr., OSU

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