The Life of a Dead Ant: The Expression of an Adaptive Extended Phenotype

@article{Andersen2009TheLO,
  title={The Life of a Dead Ant: The Expression of an Adaptive Extended Phenotype},
  author={Sandra Breum Andersen and Sylvia Gerritsma and Kalsum M. Yusah and David Mayntz and Nigel L. Hywel-Jones and Johan P. J. Billen and Jacobus J. Boomsma and David P Hughes},
  journal={The American Naturalist},
  year={2009},
  volume={174},
  pages={424 - 433}
}
Specialized parasites are expected to express complex adaptations to their hosts. [] Key Result Dead ants were found under leaves, attached by their mandibles, on the northern side of saplings approximately 25 cm above the soil, where temperature and humidity conditions were optimal for fungal growth. Experimental relocation confirmed that parasite fitness was lower outside this manipulative zone. Host resources were rapidly colonized and further secured by extensive internal structuring.
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180 Citations

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Evidence for convergent evolution of host parasitic manipulation in response to environmental conditions

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This work advocates for an integrative approach using the parasitic fungi of the genus Ophiocordyceps that induce an adaptive biting behavior in Camponotus ants as an example, and emphasizes the use of behavioral assays under controlled laboratory conditions and the need to approach colonizing parasites as organizations with a division of labor.

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The integrative work presented here shows that ant brain manipulation by O. unilateralis s.l. is species-specific seemingly because the fungus produces a specific array of compounds as a reaction to the presence of the host brain it has evolved to manipulate.

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...

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