BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 24, 2022
It’s hard to feel much compassion for a common housefly. But even the most insect-phobic person might muster up a bit of empathy for any fly falling victim to a fungus capable of rendering it a necrophiliac and then killing it. Entomophthora muscae, also called the “zombie fly fungus,” is a parasitic fungus that survives by infecting houseflies, and it’s right here in Maine attacking flies in houses and gardens around the state. As parasites go, the zombie fungus is particularly horrifying, with a life cycle that seems more at home in a Stephen King novella than a scientific research article. A recent study out of Denmark shows the fungus actually takes control of a female fly’s behavior while consuming it from the inside out. It then uses the corpse to attract and infect male houseflies.