Yes, a real Amazonian fungus can manipulate an animal’s behavior—but the animal is an ant, not a person. A spider newly described from Ecuador has a different, harmless relationship with fungus: its abdomen appears to mimic the structure of a fungus that attacks spiders. The spider has not been reported as infected or controlled.
Those two discoveries explain why the story resembles The Last of Us while remaining very different from its fictional human pandemic.
What was discovered in the Ecuadorian Amazon?
A new spider species
David R. Díaz-Guevara, Alexander Griffin Bentley and Nadine Dupérré formally described Taczanowskia waska in Zootaxa on 26 February 2026. The specimen came from the Ecuadorian Amazon. Their paper describes the species, discusses its ecology and fungal mimicry, and updates the identification key for female Taczanowskia spiders.
Why the paper calls it fungal mimicry
The spider’s abdomen bears structures that resemble an araneopathogenic fungus—a fungus capable of causing disease in spiders or other arachnids. The authors identify this as the first reported case of an arachnid mimicking an araneopathogenic fungus. In their words, the discovery is “the first reported case of Arachnid mimicry of an araneopathogenic fungus.”
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“Mimicry” is the crucial word. The visible fungal form is part of the spider’s body, not a reproductive structure growing out of an infection. The paper does not report fungal growth inside the spider, behavioral control by a fungus, or a disease outbreak.
Is the spider infected or controlled by a fungus?
No. Taczanowskia waska is described as a fungus mimic, not a fungal host. Its resemblance is morphological—something observers can see on the abdomen. That differs from parasitism, in which a fungus grows in or on an animal and may alter its survival, movement or death site.
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| Feature | Taczanowskia waska | Fungus-manipulated ants |
|---|---|---|
| Animal | Spider | Ant |
| Relationship | Resemblance to a spider-pathogenic fungus | Actual infection by an entomopathogenic fungus |
| Main effect | Visible body structure | Parasite-associated changes in movement and death location |
| Evidence type | Formal description of one new species and its traits | Field observations, ecological studies and molecular detections |
| Geography in the cited work | Ecuadorian Amazon | Amazonian Brazil for the ant studies described here |
Where the “Last of Us” comparison is real: Amazonian ants
Ophiocordyceps can redirect an infected ant’s final location
Amazonian Ophiocordyceps fungi infect ants and can alter their behavior in ways that place the dying host in a suitable location for fungal reproduction and spore dispersal. A review of Amazonian and related lineages describes this parasite-driven behavior as an “extended phenotype”: the parasite’s genotype is expressed through the host’s body or behavior.
For example, Ophiocordyceps monacidis leads its host to die among or beneath the moss Octoblepharum albidum. The fungus then sends its reproductive structure through the moss carpet, where conditions can favor continued transmission.
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Field observations of zombie turtle ants
A study of zombie turtle ants (Cephalotes atratus) in the Amazon recorded 626 infected cadavers on 14.8% of 162 sampled trees. The recorded observations included 1,726 hours of camera footage and three live ants removing three zombie-ant cadavers.
The authors interpret the tree base as an environmental refuge for the fungus: cadavers can remain in the colony’s surroundings while social workers remove some infectious material from inside the nest. These observations document a real ecological conflict between fungal transmission and ant disease-removal behavior.
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What the Amazonian bryophyte survey adds
A newer metabarcoding study focused on bryophytes in Brazil’s central Amazon at the Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve. Its 45 metabarcoding libraries yielded identification of 2,277 fungal taxa. Entomopathogenic fungi—especially ant-specific Ophiocordyceps—were significantly detected across the bryophyte samples.
Metabarcoding detects fungal DNA in environmental samples. It helps show which fungi are present in a habitat, but a DNA detection is not by itself proof that every detected fungus is actively controlling an animal. That survey complements, rather than replaces, the direct field observations of infected ant cadavers.
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Spider mimicry, ant parasitism and The Last of Us are not the same phenomenon
| Question | What the evidence shows |
|---|---|
| Is there a real “fungus zombie” phenomenon in the Amazon? | Yes, in documented arthropods such as ants infected by Ophiocordyceps. |
| Is the Ecuadorian spider infected? | No infection or fungal control is reported for Taczanowskia waska; it is described as a mimic. |
| Does the spider prove that Cordyceps controls spiders? | No. The species description concerns resemblance, not parasitic manipulation. |
| Are humans infected in these studies? | No. The cited hosts are arthropods, and none of the studies demonstrates human infection or transmission. |
| How close is this to the HBO story? | The behavioral premise has a real arthropod analogue, but a human pandemic remains fictional and is not supported by these findings. |
Does “Cordyceps infect spiders?”
Some fungi are pathogenic to spiders and other arachnids, which is why the paper can discuss an araneopathogenic fungus as the model for the spider’s appearance. But this particular Taczanowskia specimen is not presented as infected by that fungus. The study establishes a resemblance, not a spider disease cycle.
What scientists have—and have not—shown
The 2026 Zootaxa paper is a taxonomic result: it establishes a new species and documents an unusual form. The ant research supplies population-level field evidence, including cadaver counts, tree prevalence and observed removals. The bryophyte work supplies molecular evidence about fungal communities in a Brazilian Amazon habitat.
- Established: a fungus-mimicking spider occurs in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
- Established: Amazonian Ophiocordyceps infections can be associated with altered ant behavior and strategically located deaths.
- Established: ant-pathogenic fungi occur in sampled Amazonian bryophyte habitats.
- Not established: that the Ecuadorian spider is infected, that it is being puppeteered by a fungus, or that an arthropod fungus is causing a human pandemic.
The most accurate takeaway is therefore narrow but remarkable: one Amazonian spider appears to imitate a fungus, while other Amazonian fungi genuinely manipulate infected ants. Both are real biology; only the second is a “zombie” infection, and neither is evidence that The Last of Us is becoming reality for humans.
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