‘Zombie spiders’ infected by fungus found in UK

Exactly what 2025 needed, zombie spiders...

Spiders located in several cave systems across the island of Ireland, including Whitefathers' Caves on the Fermanagh/Cavan border.

Named after Sir David Attenborough, Gibellula attenboroughii was first discovered in County Down during the filming of BBC Winterwatch in 2021.

The fungus changes the spider's behaviour making it leave its concealed lair or web to die in an exposed position on the rook or walls of a cave, giving the term 'zombie spider'.

It does this using dopamine, the brain's happy chemical, to make the spider favour the dispersal of the fungal spores over preserving its own life.

Scientists say the behaviour of the fungus mirrors that of ants infected by fungi of the genus Ophiocordyceps, previously reported from the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil.

The revelation of the 'zombie ants' led to several zombie-fungus themed books as well as the popular The Last of Us video game.

The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by fungus-infected zombie humans and was later adapted into an award-winning TV show, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.

A team of scientists led by Dr Harry Evans from the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International found the fungus on a spider in the gunpowder store at Castle Espie in County Down and began to look for more specimens.

Dr Evans and his team used a speleologist - a cave explorer - to help their research on these 'zombie spiders'.

That work led them to the conclusion that this was a native fungus specific to indigenous cave-dwelling spider species.

The 'zombie spider' fungus, which favours man-made habitats like culverts, tunnels and cellars, has been found on two species of spider occupying different types of environments in the cave systems.

Both Metellina merianae (Tetragnathidae: Araneae) and Meta menardi are reclusive, orb or circular web-weaving cave spiders that favour dark, damp places.

The work of Dr Evans and his team has been published in the journal Fungal Systematics and Evolution but he said that more work was needed to try and understand how the fungus succeeds.