Zombie Spiders Are Invading the UK

We’ve all played or seen The Last of Us by now. We understand the concept of cordyceps. In the show and games, it’s a fungus that covers people’s bodies while consuming their brains, reducing them to primitive, violent zombies, for lack of a better word.

But cordyceps aren’t fictional. The concept is based on a real fungus that can control the brains of ants. A BBC documentary crew recently found evidence of a similar fungus covering the bodies and controlling the minds of spiders, effectively turning them into zombies.

This new species of fungus, Gibellula attenboroughii, was named after legendary nature documentarian Sir David Attenborough. Documentary crews discovered the zombie spiders covered in fungus while filming a BBC documentary series titled Winterwatch, centered around the kinds of wildlife that can be encountered around the UK during the winter.

The fungus was covering the bodies of the orb-weaving cave spider, which primarily make their homes in caves but have also been known to get comfortable in dark, quiet places like the abandoned gunpowder storeroom featured in the documentary and study published in the journal Fungal Systematics and Evolution.

While orb-weaving spiders are much creepier looking than they are dangerous, these particular orb-weavers took on an extra menacing, grotesque appearance as the fungus overtook portions of their bodies, covering them in freaky fungal protrusions.

Gibellula attenboroughii induces a similar mind-controlling effect as Ophiocordyceps. Once it infects a spider, it makes these usually reclusive critters a little less camera shy, leaving them exposed in open spaces like ceilings, which obviously puts the spider in danger but makes it easier to disperse the fungal spores through air currents. It can’t do that as effectively if it’s hiding in a dark corner.

While the zombie spiders are a bit more gregarious than usual, it’s at the cost of their autonomy and safety. Don’t worry, though. The chances of humans being similarly zombified by this kind of fungus is “vanishingly unlikely,” according to scientists. But maybe that scientist is only saying that because they’re being controlled by the fungus?