Scientists think they’ve discovered a new parasitic fungus that feeds on trapdoor spiders in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.
The rare purple organism belongs to a group of fungi that infect invertebrates and take over the host. A close-up shows the fungus coiling around the body of a trapdoor spider, emerging from the burrow where the arachnids catch insects.
The researchers said there was no evidence the new parasitic fungus controlled the behavior of trapdoor spiders before killing them, like their fungal relatives zombie ants, which outwit the insects and trick them into leaving their nests in places where they can spread their spores. and made famous by the post-apocalyptic TV drama The Last of Us.
The fungus was found in November during a field trip to the northern forests of Rio de Janeiro to document the region’s biodiversity and look for new species. It requires a formal scientific description before it can be confirmed as a new species.
“It’s a very beautiful thing,” said João Araújo, a Brazilian mycologist at the New York Botanical Garden who made the discovery but has yet to decide on a name. “They infect trapdoor spiders, and it’s one of the few Cordyceps that’s purple, which is an interesting trait.
“We don’t know much about this group of fungi because it’s so understudied. This type of mushroom has been collected a few times around the world, mainly in Thailand. This will likely be the first time we sequence a species like this in Brazil.”
The Atlantic Rainforest is one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world. It once covered 15% of Brazil but is highly fragmented with only 20% of the original area remaining. It is a biodiversity hotspot and has several species found nowhere else on earth, including the golden lion tamarin and the tree rat.
The expedition, which was a collaboration between the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, New York Botanical Garden, Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden and other organizations, included specialists in plants, fungi, frogs, snakes and birds eager to see what was left was in the forest. The scientists used the latest wearable technology to sequence the fungal genome in situ.
They believe they made more discoveries of fungal parasites on the trip, but they need to do more checks. These include a parasitic fungus that attacks a weaver spider and another that attacks dung beetles.
“The new species attacking trapdoor spiders belongs to a megadiverse group of fungi,” Araújo said. “We know about 1% of its diversity, so we know very little. Fundamental scientific work is needed to perhaps research new medicinal substances or use them to protect against plant pests.”
Lead researcher Oscar Alejandro Pérez Escobar and Dr. Natalia Przelomska, who performed the on-site sequencing, said her work would support the new species hypothesis and be used to speed up the identification of other species in threatened ecosystems.
Przelomska said: “Here at Kew we have access to large DNA sequencing machines and all sorts of ways to produce data. In countries with biodiversity this is often much more difficult.
“So what was really special about the field trip was that we were able to use some of the latest DNA sequencing technologies with the people working there. It’s a small step in this really big problem of unequal access.”
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