Brood X zombie cicadas infected by fungus are real

One of the largest populations of periodical cicadas, known as Brood X, is starting to emerge in parts of the East Coast and the Midwest after 17 years underground...and "zombie cicadas" are emerging along with them. Recently, across the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, people on social media are sharing videos of cicada heads climbing trees, with several likening the bodiless creatures to zombies.
A team of researchers at West Virginia University in 2019 discovered that Massospora cicadina, a psychedelic fungus that specifically infects periodical cicadas, “contains chemicals similar to those found in hallucinogenic mushrooms.”
“The fungus causes cicadas to lose their limbs and eccentric behavior sets in: Males try to mate with everything they encounter, although the fungus has consumed their genitals and butts,” according to the researchers, which is why they have often referred to the infected cicadas as “zombies” and “flying saltshakers of death.”
Once periodical cicadas, like Brood X, emerge from beneath the surface after 17 years, their primary goal is to mate. In a study published by the WVU researchers in 2020, they state that several days after emergence, healthy periodical adult male cicadas begin to sing in order to attract adult female cicadas. Meanwhile, “the Massospora-Magicicada parasite-host system functions, in part, as a sexually transmitted infection.”
“Magicicada sexual behavior is highly stereotyped: males call and females respond with wing flicks, but healthy males never signal with wing flicks. When females remain unmated much beyond the onset of sexual receptivity, their responses become exaggerated with louder, more consistent wing flicks and sometimes even whole-body motions that appear to draw the attention of chorusing males,” according to the study. “This exaggerated behavior is a form of hypersexuality that is consistent with age-related decreases in mate choosiness reported in cockroaches, medflies, parasitoid wasps, and other insects. In this context, hypersexuality observed in Massospora-infected cicadas is not surprising because infected cicadas remain unmated for their entire lives and may therefore exhibit increased sexual receptivity without any special manipulation by the fungus.”
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[@SpitfireBoy86]

They're putting chemicals in the fungi to turn the cicadas gay!

[@holy_shiite]

😂

[@superr_nerd7305]

💀 bruh

[@Ria-sd2ex]

I hate it when that happens😫

[@Helo735]

This creeps me out probably more than it should...and I have "The Last of Us" to blame for that.

[@user-wondercat]

I saw one of these today. I had to move it away from all the other cicadas it was near. It looked like it was dying

[@bdubb5390]

Stop it. Lies. Lol. 😂😂

[@bdubb5390]

Liar!!! Ur funny.

[@bdubb5390]

Ur channel is clearly fake!!

[@user-wondercat]

@bdubb5390 You shouldn't bare false witness against someone, calling them a liar when you have no clue - and you did it twice in a month. I have a video of these things. Seriously, are you okay?

[@ezekielm.soriano2662]

I have resident evil and dead space vibes along last of us here.😨⭐✔🙏👍

[@Ria-sd2ex]

Wait...can you...trip off these Cicadas?

[@Pwnagotchi-0]

How do they still move without their innards

[@dandelion3927]

That's what you called god's creation.

[@leedleleedle6824]

They’re apparently pumped with an amphetamine like stimulant that makes them extra active

[@bhennjiben]

It’s a matter of time before someone snores it and turns into a zombie

[@syahan-fs9bu]

Lol the parasite didnt enough for humans

[@darnellm743]

Lol

[@finger3030]

Discord "Females" be like:

[@creepie2776]

Soooo trueee

[@creepie2776]

Literally in my discord server, one of them there's a femboy.

[@damocles5047]

Maybe with enough acumulation of those spores on the cicadas humans can crate fine amount of drugs and turning people to zombies.

[@syahan-fs9bu]

Can zombie bug infected humans?

[@kd6836]

As the two broods emerge in spring, 2024, avoid the urge to eat ze bugs. The Last of Us was just fiction. Yes. That’s it.

[@BODLive08]

Hi everyone watching Last of Us
😂🤣

[@xx_laxxy_xx8416]

It looks house fly lol

[@joseluislopez9701]

siekeedas

[@isaacsim9235]

Sounds like the LGBTE.T.C. political party