In 2025, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew highlighted a remarkable new fungus from Brazil that parasitizes trapdoor spiders, earning it a nickname “zombie fungus.”
Its life cycle is as dramatic as it is unusual, revealing just how specialized and inventive fungal relationships can be in nature.
Finds like this help scientists better understand ecological balance, host-parasite dynamics, and the hidden roles fungi play in ecosystems.
They also underscore how much biodiversity remains undocumented, even in groups as overlooked as fungi.
Gratitude to the mycologists whose work brings these extraordinary organisms into view.
A new species of Purpureocillium (Ophiocordycipitaceae) fungus parasitizing trapdoor spiders in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest and its associated microbiome revealed through in situ “taxogenomics”. Arujo et al. 2025 IMA Fungus
. 2025 Dec 12;16:e168534.
Discovery Spotlight: New Zombie Fungus 🧟 🍄
