Cordyceps: de formigas-zumbis a tesouro tibetano

Under the watchful eye of the great master João Araújo – @joaofungo, we went out through the Cloud Forest in search of fungi #Cordyceps during the course on the diversity of Macrofungi Ascomycota, coordinated by Prof. Elisandro Ricardo Drechsler-Santos (MIND.Funga/MICOLAB/UFSC) @drechsler_santos, which I had the honor of participating, in November (2022), in the city of Urubici/SC.

We carried out a meticulous search, conducted by João's attentive and trained eyes, looking for those small organisms that parasitize insects to ensure their continuity, but which also play an important role in nature, controlling the proliferation of some species.

In addition to its fame of turning insects into “zombies”, which inspired the HBO series , “The Last of Us”, where the fungus #Cordyceps transforms humans into zombies, these fungi also gain prominence for their medicinal potential, still little commented and explored.

The species sinensis, for example, is considered the "Tibetan treasure", being used in the traditional Chinese medicine for many years to increase energy, treat respiratory ailments, or increase sex drive, among many other benefits.

Intelligence and evolution

The Cordyceps, famous mainly for zombie-ants, are a genus of fungi that infect, control and kill insects such as caterpillars, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, flies, among others.

They have incredible intelligence!

Through the dissemination of their spores, Cordyceps they lodge in insects taking physical control of their host, which then begins to behave abnormally. After some time developing inside this organism, with the intelligence of not reaching its vital organs, the parasite leads its “zombie” to the ideal point to then kill it, bear fruit and disperse its spores, thus perpetuating its species.

Studies indicate that these fungi have been evolving and refining this process with specific hosts for millions of years, which means that a strain will only have an effect on the organism it evolved to infect.

Have you ever found #Cordyceps on your hunts?