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=== Entomopathogenic fungi === All known fungi in the genera ''[[Cordyceps]]'' and ''[[Ophiocordyceps]]'' are endoparasitic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Qu |first1=Shuai-Ling |last2=Li |first2=Su-Su |last3=Li |first3=Dong |last4=Zhao |first4=Pei-Ji |date=2022-07-24 |title=Metabolites and Their Bioactivities from the Genus Cordyceps |journal=Microorganisms |volume=10 |issue=8 |pages=1489 |doi=10.3390/microorganisms10081489 |issn=2076-2607 |pmc=9330831 |pmid=35893547|doi-access=free }}</ref> One of the most notable fungal parasitoids is ''[[Ophiocordyceps unilateralis|O. unilateralis]]'' which infects carpenter ants by breaching the ant's exoskeletons via their spores and growing in the ant's hemocoel as free living yeast cells. Eventually the yeast cells progress to producing nerve toxins to alter the behaviour of the ant causing it to climb and bite onto vegetation, known as the 'death bite'.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Harry C. |last2=Elliot |first2=Simon L. |last3=Hughes |first3=David P. |date=September 1, 2011 |title=''Ophiocordyceps unilateralis'': A keystone species for unraveling ecosystem functioning and biodiversity of fungi in tropical forests? |journal= [[Communicative & Integrative Biology]] |volume=4 |issue=5 |pages=598β602 |doi=10.4161/cib.16721 |pmid=22046474 |pmc=3204140 }}</ref> This approach is so fine-tuned, it causes the ant to bite down on the adaxial leaf midrib, which is the part of the leaf most optimal for the fungus to fruit. In fact, it has been found that in specific circumstances, the time of the death bite is synchronised to solar noon.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hughes |first1=David P |last2=Andersen |first2=Sandra B |last3=Hywel-Jones |first3=Nigel L |last4=Himaman |first4=Winanda |last5=Billen |first5=Johan |last6=Boomsma |first6=Jacobus J |date=2011 |title=Behavioral mechanisms and morphological symptoms of zombie ants dying from fungal infection |journal= [[BMC Ecology]] |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=13 |doi=10.1186/1472-6785-11-13 |issn=1472-6785 |pmc=3118224 |pmid=21554670 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2011BMCE...11...13H }}</ref> As much as 40% of the ant's biomass is fungal hyphae at the moment of the death bite.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sheldrake |first=Merlin |title=Entangled Life |publisher=Vintage |year=2021 |isbn=9781784708276 |pages=107β119 |language=En}}</ref> After the ant dies, the fungus produces a large stalk, growing from the back of the ant's head<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pontoppidan |first1=Maj-Britt |last2=Himaman |first2=Winanda |last3=Hywel-Jones |first3=Nigel L. |last4=Boomsma |first4=Jacobus J. |last5=Hughes |first5=David P. |date=2009-03-12 |editor-last=Dornhaus |editor-first=Anna |title=Graveyards on the Move: The Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Dead Ophiocordyceps-Infected Ants |journal= [[PLOS ONE]] |language=en |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=e4835 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0004835 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=2652714 |pmid=19279680|doi-access=free |bibcode=2009PLoSO...4.4835P }}</ref> which subsequently releases ascospores. These spores are too large to be wind dispersed and instead fall directly to the ground where they produce secondary spores that infect ants as they walk over them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pontoppidan |first1=Maj-Britt |last2=Himaman |first2=Winanda |last3=Hywel-Jones |first3=Nigel L. |last4=Boomsma |first4=Jacobus J. |last5=Hughes |first5=David P. |date=2009-03-12 |editor-last=Dornhaus |editor-first=Anna |title=Graveyards on the Move: The Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Dead ''Ophiocordyceps''-Infected Ants |journal= [[PLOS ONE]] |language=en |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=e4835 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0004835 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=2652714 |pmid=19279680|doi-access=free |bibcode=2009PLoSO...4.4835P }}</ref> ''[[Ophiocordyceps sinesis|O. sinesis]]'' is a parasitoid as well, parasitising ghost moth larvae, killing them within 15-25 days, a similar process to that of ''O. unilateralis''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Yongjie |last2=Li |first2=Erwei |last3=Wang |first3=Chengshu |last4=Li |first4=Yuling |last5=Liu |first5=Xingzhong |date=2012-03-01 |title=Ophiocordyceps sinensis, the flagship fungus of China: terminology, life strategy and ecology |journal=Mycology |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=2β10 |doi=10.1080/21501203.2011.654354 |issn=2150-1203|doi-access=free }}</ref>
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