One species complex, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, is known for its parasitism on ants, in which it alters the behavior of the ants in such a way as to propagate itself more effectively, the parasite starts on the ground and comes in contact with an ant, killing it and then growing its fruiting bodies from the ant's head and releasing its spores.[6][7][8][9]
To accomplish this, infected ants are stripped of their instinctive fear of heights, and leaving the relative safety of their nests, climb up the nearest plant—a syndrome known as "summit disease".[10]
The ant clamps its jaws around the plant in a "death grip" and following, mycelia grow from the ant's feet and stitch them to the surface of the plant.[10] The spores released from the ant carcass fall to the ground and infect other ants that come in contact with the spores so that this cycle continues.[11] Areas with high densities of ants that have this fungus growing out of them are known as graveyards.[11]
A 48-million-year-old fossil of an ant in the death-grip of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis was discovered in Germany.[12]
Not all fungi of this genus are harmful to host insects. A few act as yeast-like symbioants of cicadas, having retired from the parasitic lifestyle of O. sobolifera to take on the role of the degraded Hodgkinia (bacterial) symbioant.[13]
Ophiocordyceps robertsii is used by the Māori people of New Zealand as food and a source of ink for tattoos. The charred insect-fungus complex was mixed with tree sap to make an almost black ink.[17]
One not-yet-named fungus that falls into Ophiocordyceps infects juvenile edible crabs. Infection is fatal once the fungus becomes established in the hemocoel.[19]
A relatively broad phylogeny of the genus was published in 2024 as part of the effort to distinguish more species from inside the O. sinensiscomplex.[22]
In popular culture
Simply referred to as "cordyceps", an unspecified species in this genus is the cause of a worldwide pandemic and the zombie-like "infected" in the 2013 video game The Last of Us, its 2020 sequel, and the 2023 television adaptation.
