We want your zombies!!
Zombie-making fungi, which infect, manipulate the behavior of, then kill insect hosts, are found worldwide! Many species belong to the fungal family Entomophthoraceae – also known as the insect destroyers – a branch within the early-diverging fungal phylum Zoopagomycota. We’ve been observing many of these fungi for over a century and a half, but we still know very little about their genetic diversity and host ranges.
Zombuddies aims to build a zombie DNA database to fill this gap. Specifically, we want to sequence host and fungal DNA from zombie insects killed by Entomophthoraceae with the help from the incredible community of citizen (check out our project on iNaturalist!) and research scientists. If you come across a fly you suspect was killed by one of these fungi, we ask that you please collect the specimen and submit a specimen inquiry (a zombinquiry, if you will). We’ll check out your sample(s), and if everything looks good will work with you to ship us your samples to the lab. In the lab, we will extract DNA and sequence diagnostic genetic regions to identify both host and fungal species. We’ll reach back out with results, as well as share them on the Zombuddies data page.
The Zombuddies project is now partnering with ZomBeetles, a project run by Dr. William Beckerson at Lake Forest College. You can learn more about the ZomBeetles project on the Beckerson lab website. If you have a fungusy beetle, please submit a ZomBeetles specimen inquiry.
While we would love to collect specimens from around the globe, current shipping restrictions prevent us from collecting samples that are not collected in the United States. We hope to expand our reach soon!