This article is an effort to bring together all of BugGuide's images of bugs that have been attacked by fungi. Clicking a thumbnail will take you to the full-sized image, which may be linked to additional images of the same individual. If you come across images that are not shown here--particularly of different fungi or different victims--please add links to them in the comments below.
Check out
this video to learn a bit about
Cordyceps, a mostly tropical genus of fungus that can be found in the southeastern US. (In the Amazon, there are treehoppers in the genus
Bocydium that appear to mimic these fungi. Some examples are shown
here.) There is more information about
Cordyceps and related fungi
here. There are many other types of arthropod pathogenic fungi. If you come across good information about them, please post links etc. below and I will incorporate them here.
Life cycle information, along with many references, can be found in:
Roy, H. E., D.C. Steinkraus, J. Eilenberg, A.E. Hajek, and J.K. Pell. 2006. Bizarre interactions and endgames: entomopathogenic fungi and their arthropod hosts. Annual Review of Entomology 51:331-57.
Spiders
Most, if not all, of these spiders are afflicted with species of
Gibellula (a.k.a.
Torrubiella). Kathie Hodge's article
here shows examples of
Gibellula pulchra and
Nomuraea atypicola.
Cellar spiders with
Engyodontium aranearum (previously identified as
Torrubiella pulvinata; see discussion
here)
Harvestmen
Pandora phalangicida is a harvestman-specific fungus. Also see Kathie Hodge's photo
here.
Grasshoppers and Crickets
Some information about
Entomophaga grylli here
Earwigs
Cockroaches
True Bugs
Leafhoppers, Planthoppers and Cicadas
Aphids
Barklice
Lacewings
Beetles
Goldenrod Soldier Beetles infected with
Eryniopsis lampyridarum
Ladybugs with Laboulbeniales fungi (see more
here)
Ants and Wasps
Caddisflies infected with
Erynia rhizospora
This one apparently has some other kind of fungus:
Moths
Also see the bottom of
this page.
Cordyceps militaris on moth pupa:
Caterpillars -- some of these may be killed by a virus or bacterium rather than a fungus:
Flies
See Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month page for
Entomophthora muscae.
This still-living calliphorid appears to be in the process of succumbing to a fungus:
Snipe flies with
Furia ithacensis:
Cordyceps variabilis on Xylophagidae larva:
Some infected fly larvae found in leaf litter:
Millipedes
These millipedes are victims of
Arthrophaga myriapodina, described in
this paper.
Miscellaneous Arthropods With Afflictions That May Or May Not Be Fungus-related
Images Submitted To This Page That Have Been Determined To Depict Victims Of Something Other Than A Fungus
