Natures wonders:zombie ants again (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, November 09, 2012, 20:55 (4395 days ago) @ David Turell

Zombie fungus attacks ants, but is itself attacked by another fungus--http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=zombie-ant-fungus-parasite&page=3-
"Andersen and her colleagues have found that a different breed of fungi grow over the ant corpse and the emerging fungus stalk. By covering the original fungus and its stalk, this secondary fungus—or hyperparasite—effectively prevents the zombie-ant fungus from ejecting its spores. "It looks like they completely sterilize it," Andersen says of the second-level parasite.
 
Even these hyperparasites seem to be specialized for growing on specific parasitizing fungi. "They're not really growing on anything else" in the area, Andersen says. This makes the hyperparasite another obligate parasite, which depends on the zombie-ant fungus, which depends, in turn, on the carpenter ant colony. "Once you're very successful, something else will take advantage of it," she notes. "It's really a little ecosystem in its own [right].'"