Cordyceps wolf spider

[Montgg]

One of my wolf spiders i have, was acting strange and moving around weirdly. Today i found him dead with a long red looking thing out of his back almost like a horn it was about an inch long. The spider did not die in a death curl either. I have thrown out the container and the spider to risk this fungi spreading to my other inverts. Could this possibly be cordyceps?

 

[pannaking22]

Whoa, that's pretty cool. Did you get any pictures? It may or may not be Cordyceps, but if it isn't, it's definitely some type of entomopathogenic fungus.

 

[schmiggle]

I'm going to guess either Cordycipitaceae or Ophiocordycipitaceae, and if not, I agree that it's some other fungus. You didn't happen to get any pictures, did you?

 

[Montgg]

I meant to say i was going to take pics of it right now..... I threw him in the garbage and when i went to go and get him out of the garbage the horn broke off -_-
I was so worried it was going to spread.. I should have took pics right as i was about to throw it out... Do you think it will spread to my other True spiders down there??

 

[Biollantefan54]

If it was Cordyceps, I believe that only the organism it was found on is what it infects. So, for example, if I found one on a carpenter ant, that SPECIFIC one won't attack a fire ant or a crab spider and so on and so forth. That's what I have heard, I am not 100% on it though!

 

[schmiggle]

I actually asked a curator of mushroom specimens at Harvard exactly that, since I had heard it too, and she said it depended on the Cordyceps (or other entomopathogen). That being said, some "species" of entomopathogenic fungi might actually be species complexes, which is very common in mycology--many species complexes are only being differentiated now.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

I'm sorry man. I blame "The last of us" for that. Before that game, almost 80% of people weren't aware of those evildoers :-/

 

[schmiggle]

Could you describe it in any sort of detail? Did it expand toward the top? Was it smooth or rough? Etc... I think I might be able to ID it (with those same people I mentioned previously), and that would both satisfy my burning curiosity and tell you if any other spiders were at risk.

 

[The Snark]

Maybe after a few millenniums of studying one square foot of detritus later we will get a basic handle on the internecine warfare constantly going on in it and the major players.

 

[Montgg]

It was rounder towards the end of the spike. I didnt really check if it was round or smooth. as i threw it out almost immediately

---------- Post added 11-14-2015 at 05:52 PM ----------

the whole thing was red as well

---------- Post added 11-14-2015 at 05:54 PM ----------

it also stopped eating about a week before its death

 

[JustSomeDude]

damn that's wild! Sorry for your loss! That's pretty crazy though must have been WC I am guessing? Or are certain spiders just prone to a fungal infection like this?

 

[Montgg]

Ya it was wc