Furia ithacensis - Pathogenic Fungus on Snipe Fly (Rhagio sp.)

Furia ithacensis is a species of pathogenic fungus that causes a fatal disease in flies, specifically snipe flies.

The infection process is quite interesting. Once infected, the fly becomes zombie-like as it is now behaviorally reprogrammed by its fungal parasite! The infected fly makes its final journey to some vegetation - usually the underside of a leaf and often during the evening hours. By morning, the fly will already have been dead for hours. Its fungus-ridden cadaver will be perched on the leaf with its wings spread as though ready to take flight. Its dead body is bound to the leaf by hundreds of hyphae. The hyphae are specialized so that they grab the leaf with a serious sucker-like holdfast. At this point, the cadaver attracts new fly victims, especially lovesick males that are prompted by their odd sexual attraction to these fungus-infested, macabre, zombie flies. During the night, the fungus had been busy producing and expelling spores. These spores showered the environment surrounding the fly cadaver like fungal bullets of death. So, as curious flies and lovelorn males inspect the cadaver, they pick up the fungal spores, and the infection cycle starts again.

Habitat: Spotted on a leaf in a mixed forest