A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive
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Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive
#2> The fungus takes over their bodies, causing them to lose their lower abdomen and genitals. And it pushes their mating into hyperdrive.
Unclear. How do they mate, or even attempt to mate, without genitals?
Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive
#3> The fungus takes over their bodies, causing them to lose their lower abdomen and genitals. And it pushes their mating into hyperdrive. Unclear. How do they mate, or even attempt to mate, without genitals?
"It's a failed mating attempt, of course, because there's no genitalia back there."
Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive
#4> The fungus takes over their bodies, causing them to lose their lower abdomen and genitals. And it pushes their mating into hyperdrive. Unclear. How do they mate, or even attempt to mate, without genitals?
Maybe only the fungus mates
Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive
#5> The fungus takes over their bodies, causing them to lose their lower abdomen and genitals. And it pushes their mating into hyperdrive. Unclear. How do they mate, or even attempt to mate, without genitals?
"[The fungus] is sexually transmissible," Kasson tells NPR. "It's a failed mating attempt, of course, because there's no genitalia back there."
Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive
#6> The fungus takes over their bodies, causing them to lose their lower abdomen and genitals. And it pushes their mating into hyperdrive. Unclear. How do they mate, or even attempt to mate, without genitals?
[deleted]
Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive
#7> The fungus takes over their bodies, causing them to lose their lower abdomen and genitals. And it pushes their mating into hyperdrive. Unclear. How do they mate, or even attempt to mate, without genitals?
"It's a failed mating attempt, of course, because there's no genitalia back there."
Yes I read this but it still needs some explanation. I can maybe understand that the infected insect still wants to mate even without genitalia, but why do the sane ones fall for it?
I guess I need to learn more about cicada mating habits.
Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
"It's a failed mating attempt, of course, because there's no genitalia back there."
Yes I read this but it still needs some explanation. I can maybe understand that the infected insect still wants to mate even without genitalia, but why do the sane ones fall for it? I guess I need to learn more about cicada mating habits.
Consent to mate is in fact fairly distinctive to human beings. It's certainly not a concept which applies to insects such as cicadas, which just jump on each other and do the business.
Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive
#9Sometimes I feel like we are sharing the world with fungus. As in, fungus consciously doesn't generate spores on us because it figured out that we will just grow it and put it in drinks and spread it any way. So using our mental processing power just let fungus realize it didn't have to try to use all its energy on the host capture and spore release routine.
And of course, the observation that it has nothing to do with us humans.
Re: A fungus that infects cicadas and pushes their mating into hyperdrive
#10Sometimes I feel like we are sharing the world with fungus. As in, fungus consciously doesn't generate spores on us because it figured out that we will just grow it and put it in drinks and spread it any way. So using our mental processing power just let fungus realize it didn't have to try to use all its energy on the host capture and spore release routine. And of course, the observation that it has nothing to do wi…
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