Fungus resembling Cordyceps from ‘The Last of Us’ discovered in real life

While exploring the Atlantic Forest in Rio de Janeiro in search of new species, a group of researchers discovered a fungus similar to Cordyceps from “The Last of Us“.

Unlike its famous cousin, which attacks living beings, the type they found in Brazil attacks the corpses of thirteen types of insects.

Although the discovery has not yet been officially catalogued, it has already been determined that it is a genus of purple fungus, which has only six officially described species. Its “almost” official name is Purpureocillium.

During the observation, scientists identified that some of the insects that Purpureocillium affects are: beetles, butterflies, ladybugs, flies and mosquitoes.

Regarding the discovery, mycologist João Paulo Machado de Araujo made the following statement:

“It is very diverse and the more we study these fungi, the more we see that other organisms are also infected by them. We understand biodiversity better and can consider the new species from an evolutionary perspective: how did these fungi evolve?

How do they infect spiders? How do they infect the eyeballs of people with compromised immunity. So, it is a fungus that has a large ecological variety.”

How much does the fungus look like Cordyceps from ‘The Last of Us’?

You can calm down right now because this is not a promise of a fungal apocalypse, no. Relax. But it is indeed a curious discovery, so it is essential to understand and know the characteristics of this newly discovered fungus.

So what do you need to know about this fungus that looks like Cordyceps from “The Last of Us”? For starters, the parasite in the series was capable of infecting living creatures, whereas the Atypicola (fungus of the genus Purpureocillium) occupies insect corpses, “zombie ant” style.

The only similarity that was actually possible to find between the fungus discovered and the one presented in the series is that both are from the family Cordycipitaceae. The two are separated into different genera. The one in the series is a genus of fungus from the phylum Ascomycotaand the one discovered in Brazil is of the genus Purpureocillium.