#Mimicry is always a cool #biology topic so this bit of #science news is a treat:

Fake zombies

As if spiders aren't creepy enough, or bug victims of the famous "The Last of Us" zombie #Cordyceps #fungus aren't creepier, we have now discovered a #spider #species which has decided its strategy for survival in this world is to simply *look* like a zombie spider fungus victim. To disgust predators and put prey at ease

It's called Taczanowskia waska

It lives in #Ecuador

sciencedaily.com/releases/2026…

The #slave #ant #Formica #fusca (#Formicinae) is seen here on common #tansy collecting #honeydew from and guarding the #aphid #Metopeurum #fuscoviride. The #workers of this ant #species, which builds #polygynous subterranean nests, are often exploited by other species for nest building. As C. Carere et al. (2018) found, there is a linear link between #individual and #collective #behavior.

©#StefanFWirth Berlin 2025

Ref
C. Carere et al. (2018)
doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2018.…

#Photos
©S F. Wirth 2025

Mylena Masache and the #frog #species she discovered *while an undergrad* at Pontificia Universidad Católica del #Ecuador in #Quito

She and her colleagues named the frog after Neisi Dajomes, the first Ecuadorian woman to win Olympic gold, at the Tokyo 2020 Games: Nymphargus dajomesae

The species is a glassfrog and is a sign of a much larger #amphibian hotspot in the Cordillera del Cóndor

Mylena is now in grad school at UC Berkeley

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti…

#science #biology #zoology