Gibellula fungus, a spider killer

 

An unfortunate spider, engulfed by a Gibellula fungus. If an airborne Gibellula spore lands on a suitable victim, the fungus will grow and enter its body, eventually consuming much of the spider's soft inner parts. In a grisly last hurrah, fruiting bodies erupt from the carcass's corpse, sending legions of spores into the air stream to seek new spider victims. And to think, you have probably had many of these microscopic spores land on you. Hopefully the fungus never manages to jump ship to Homo sapiens, or some tough times lay ahead. Highland County, Ohio, July 16, 2022.

NOTE: I am laboring hard to delete my photographic backlog and am making great strides. There have been periods where I was taking FAR more images than I could curate and archive, so some of those folders got stuffed into a "to-do" file. Now is the time to buckle down and get all of these images into my system, where I can easily lay hands on them if needed. So, from time t time, I will probably out a photo or two from the past, as I come across temporarily forgotten gems (although I'm not sure anyone would consider a Gibellula fungus and its unfortunate victim a "gem").