New Spider Species in Amazon Fakes Being a Zombie Parasite’s Corpse
Discovered in Ecuador, this spider tricks predators by pretending to be a fungus-killed dead body — a first in survival tactics.
On a night in August 2025, a naturalist team led by Alexander Bentley was exploring the biodiverse intersection of Ecuador's Andes and the Amazon when they stumbled upon a bizarre nine-millimeter spider. This spider sat totally still under a leaf about chest-height, covered in pale hairs and tiny spikes with a ghostly translucent blue body. From its yellow-spotted belly protruded two slender stalks that looked exactly like a mushroom sprouting from a fungus-infected dead spider.
At first, the scientists thought they’d found a spider literally zombified by parasitic fungi — a classic example of “zombie fungi” that hijack spider brains, kill them, and grow deadly spores to spread themselves. To their surprise, when Bentley touched the spider, it suddenly moved. The “mushroom stalks” were actually part of the spider’s own body. This cunning little arachnid was mimicking the appearance of a zombie fungus-infected corpse to protect itself.
Named Taczanowskia waska, this new species belongs to the golden orb-weaver family. Unlike typical orb-weavers that build sticky webs, this species is a patient ambush predator using special front legs to snatch prey. Researchers think by faking death from fungal infection, it avoids predators like birds who tend to steer clear of diseased or dead animals. At the same time, the disguise might trick insect prey into coming close, unaware of the lurking danger.
The discovery was made possible thanks to citizen science: Bentley uploaded photos to the iNaturalist platform, where others noticed it might be a rare Taczanowskia species. Follow-up research confirmed it as a new species, previously hiding in plain sight among specimens collected over a century ago. So far, only two female spiders have been identified, while male behaviors and other secrets remain unknown.
Zombie fungus infections are a well-known phenomenon in entomology, like the famous fly fungus that makes flies climb high before dying to maximize spore dispersal. But Taczanowskia waska is the first spider to cleverly fake the zombie fungus effect for its own benefit — a twist in the web of natural survival tactics.
