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The details of the fungus’ attack on the bugs may seem like they belong in a creature feature horror movie. But when it comes to the fungus Massospora cicadina, “the truth is actually much stranger than science fiction.”An ever-constant hum can now be heard as millions upon millions of cicadas emerge from their slumber in the Southeast.after more than a decade underground, ready to climb into the trees and make a ruckus as they sing to attract mates.
Periodical cicadas lay their eggs in tree branches, and when those eggs hatch, the resulting baby cicadas, or nymphs, drop to the ground and burrow into the soil. Depending on their species, they spend 13 or 17 years underground, drinking sap from tree roots, until it’s time for the nearly grown cicadas to emerge. At some point, the insects are exposed to spores of the fungus Massospora cicadina.
Once the chalky fungal plug is ripped apart, the infected and disemboweled cicada flies around, raining down fluffy, brown spores. “We call them the saltshakers of death,” Kasson said. The spores dispersed by these flying saltshakers go on to infect the next generation of cicadas that will emerge more than a decade later and begin the cycle again.It’s an awful lot of moving around and mating for animals whose bodies have been torn apart.
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