Planned Phorid Fly Release Will Turn Fire Ants Into Walking Zombies - Parasites Eat Their Brains

[hatrack]

EDIT

Zombies are wandering into a yard near you, but have no fear — they're red imported fire ants, and their brains have been eaten away by phorid fly maggots. It might sound gross, but researchers hope that by releasing the tiny, parasitic fly, they will have unleashed a new tool in the ongoing fight to control the fire ant population in Texas. The phorid fly comes from South America and only attacks imported fire ants, not native organisms, according to researchers.

"The USDA has done a lot of research to make sure it won't impact other species," said Scott Ludwig, a pest management specialist with the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton. "If this would impact other ants, that would actually be detrimental," he said. "We're trying to enable the other organisms that fire ants are competing with to gain a foothold again."

Though different species of phorid fly have been released at sites around Texas, this is the first release in East Texas, Ludwig said.

The phorid flies work by dive-bombing an ant's head and laying eggs that hatch into maggots. The maggots munch the ant's brain, the ant wanders away from the mound, its head falls off, and it dies. They can continue to sting until they die.

EDIT

http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/2009/06/12/06122009_fire_ants.html

[phantom power]

1. Why do I feel like this may end up in a textbook as a cautionary tale?

And maybe as a chapter in World War Z (second edition)

[hatrack]

2. Hey! All they're doing is introducing a new species! What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!?

OTOH, I tend to think that this fate is far too good for fire ants. :evilgrin:

[phantom power]

6. I also love to hate fire ants.

Those biting little fuckers.

I just wonder what kind of evolutionary barriers there are to these wasps changing their behavior to using other kinds of insect. Like, is there a special biochemistry in the ants that the maggots depend on? Because if there isn't, the mutation barrier to a behavior change may be pretty low.

[Downtown Hound]

3. Gee, nothing could go wrong with this.

:eyes:

[ZombieHorde]

4. Zombie creation is an endeavor worth undertaking. nt

[Downtown Hound]

5. That current horde you run with isn't enough?

You zombies are greedy.

[ZombieHorde]

7. Yea right, everyone in Obama's administration is alive, he has yet to appoint a single zombie.

[Downtown Hound]

11. Just be glad he didn't compare his bowling to Dawn of the Dead

Then you'd really have something to be pissed off about.

[dgibby]

8. So, what's the chance we could get them to infect republicans?

Oh, wait....nevermind.

[aquart]

9. Is this another Hulu commercial?

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. That's all backasswards -

it's the ZOMBIES that eat the brains.