Zombie-ant fungus
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis · 偏侧蛇虫草
Rarely Seen线虫草科❓ Inedible
Non-toxic, but woody or intensely bitter in texture — not eaten as food.
The same species can be described differently across regions and stages of maturity, and countless look-alike species cannot be told apart by eye. Never use the information on this page to judge whether a real mushroom is safe to eat.
How to Tell
- An ant clamped motionless onto a leaf vein or twig, a slender stalk growing from its head
- Stalk tipped with a slightly swollen head
- Seen on the undersides of understory leaves in tropical rainforest
ID notes are compiled by AI from public sources, not reviewed by a mycologist, for learning only — never a basis for foraging.
Basics
- Family
- 线虫草科
- Hymenium
- Smooth
- Grows On
- Insects
- How Big
- 0.5–1.5 cm (overall size)
- Encounter Rate
- Rarely Seen
- Habitat
- Tropical rainforest, parasitic on carpenter ants
Fun Fact
It manipulates its ant host into climbing to the underside of a leaf, clamping onto a vein, and dying there — then sprouts a fruiting body from the ant's head, at just the right height and spot to rain spores down on the ant trail below.
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