Really a Bad Hair Day (Image added)

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:56 pm

Gee, first time I have posted over here.

Pretty nice place you guys have. I suppose what I have goes here.

Anyway, prowling the woods as usual, I often come up on strange stuff, most of it too late of course but I come upon it just the same. Most of you are familar with this stuff already...

I removed the stem and what was left of this thing and brought it inside to mount and photograph infront of a gray card, in the bedroom no less, my lab, my studio.

Canon EOS 20D w/EF-S 60mm f/2.8 macro tripod mounted, Canon 220EX Speedlite, off camera and diffused (so it doesn't blow up!).

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:25 pm

Some kind of cricket? Really needs to make an appointment with his hairdresser!

Great shots Ken

Cyberspider · Post by **Cyberspider** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:35 pm

Hi Ken...what is this? I agree with Cyclops...great shots...

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:55 pm

This is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps]Cordyceps or something like it, yes?

We are looking at the shell of an insect, with fungus growing out of it?

--Rik

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:56 pm

Cyclops wrote:Some kind of cricket? Really needs to make an appointment with his hairdresser!
Great shots Ken

Cyberspider wrote:Hi Ken...what is this? I agree with Cyclops...great shots...

Hi guys

This probably was a grasshopper or maybe even a cricket at one time. There is no telling how long the insect has been attached to that tree twig but the head, I found out later through the use of the dissecting microscope, is still attached. What has happened is that the insect has come into contact with spores from the Cordyceps fungi, a parasitic and infectious fungi, prone to attacking a certain species of insect. The "hairs" you see are "stroma," which contain spores for dispersal. This infection is also called "Summit Disease."

Thanks Guys

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:59 pm

Ooh, real life body snatchers!

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:00 pm

rjlittlefield wrote:This is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps]Cordyceps or something like it, yes?

We are looking at the shell of an insect, with fungus growing out of it?

--Rik

Yep, that pretty much sums it up there Rik. I have thousands of ants stuck to tree and shrub limbs all over the place around here. It is a wonder that there are any ants at all. All of them of course having succumbed to Cordyceps. Though the infected insects may not think much of it, I am always delighted to find carapaces like this hanging around.

Thanks Rik

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:05 pm

Ken Ramos wrote:I have thousands of ants stuck to tree and shrub limbs all over the place around here.

The ecology of your area is obviously very different from mine. I cannot recall ever seeing this first-hand, although I have spent thousands of hours walking around our forests and grasslands and deserts looking for bugs.

--Rik

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:13 pm

rjlittlefield wrote:
Ken Ramos wrote:I have thousands of ants stuck to tree and shrub limbs all over the place around here.
The ecology of your area is obviously very different from mine. I cannot recall ever seeing this first-hand, although I have spent thousands of hours walking around our forests and grasslands and deserts looking for bugs.

--Rik

Well, they're not really something that stands out and most of the time I come upon ones like the one posted, quite by accident, usually when I am not looking for them. Each species of Cordyceps, to my understanding, targets a specific species of insect, e.g. one for spiders, one for ants, one for grasshoppers, etc. Another one of natures way of keeping one thing from getting the upper hand on another. I am sure you have this in your area, you just have not been lucky enough yet to come across it. Cordyceps, I think, is a fungus prone to high elevations also and it is not very large. Some species of Cordyceps are also used in medicine. I really hope that this fungi never mutates to humans.

Thanks Rik

Mike B in OKlahoma · Post by **Mike B in OKlahoma** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:48 pm

Great find Ken!

I've seen your shots of other victims here, but have never seen this myself. I'd love to photograph it, though I suspect I'd be rather creeped out! Good idea to photograph it under controlled conditions. Did you get any environmental shots before you collected it?

My suspicion is that the victim here is a katydid (that's bush cricket for the English types among us).

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:09 pm

MikeB asked:

Did you get any environmental shots before you collected it?

No, sorry there Mike but I didn't. The specimen was quite high up and it was just luck that I noticed it. I had to bend the tree limb down a bit and then break off the twig. At first it looked like a frozen caterpillar from a distance, as I got it closer, I knew immediately what I had found. I was surprised that the head was still intact. One of the eyes can be seen in this image at 1:1 with the Canon EF-100mm f/2.8 macro. I think it was probably a Katydid too!

Thanks Mike

Bing Huey · Post by **Bing Huey** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:22 pm

Great find, Ken. Maybe you can dissect the alien.

Bing

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:28 pm

Bing Huey wrote:Great find, Ken. Maybe you can dissect the alien.

Bing

Well it's a long way from Roswell to Rutherfordton, N. C. but I suppose we could give it a try someday. Might even make "prime time," ya' think?

Thanks Bing

lauriek · Post by **lauriek** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:25 am

I really hope that this fungi never mutates to humans.

I'm sure that was an X-files episode... (Well a human eating fungi, not necessarily an evolved cordyceps).

Nice captures of a fascinating subject Ken!

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:36 am

lauriek wrote:
I really hope that this fungi never mutates to humans.
I'm sure that was an X-files episode... (Well a human eating fungi, not necessarily an evolved cordyceps).

Nice captures of a fascinating subject Ken!

Thanks Lauriek

While living in the Philippines, I too contracted some form of infection during the first few weeks of my arrival. Either bacterial or fungal, I am not sure, it was indeed "flesh eating!"

Upon walking or hobbling into "sickbay" and you've got to love these guys (corpmen/flight surgons), one of the first things you hear is, "My gawd! What is that, never seen anything like it!"