#gibellula

[wild-e-eep]

I found this fluffy monstrosity on the underside of a foxglove leaf last week. It is a spider-killing fungus Gibellula sp (I think) You can just see the front four feet of the victim protruding from under the fungus, to the right. Not sure about the brown squiggly stuff on the left - looks a bit like snail faeces.

[rattyexplores]

Spiders ravaged by Parasitic Fungi

Though I’m not sure if all these fungi are the same species, fungi in the Gibellula genus seem to attack arachnids in particular.

Unidentified, genus Gibellula

02/11/22 - 14/10/22 - 19/10/22

[wild-e-eep]

Some friends from the local rainforest restoration project wanted to use my recent Gibellula finds as a hook to do a national news article on Scottish temperate rainforest. The press release made it into several newspapers and news websites with treatments ranging from "ZoMBie SPidURS R COmIN tO EaT UR BraINs" to "Here's an unusual fugus from Scotland's temperate rainforests"

Oliver Dickinson, a video journalist from Scottish Television News came out to Glenan woods do interviews and shoot some footage - I think he did a fantastic job.

Not sure I should be embedding the youtube video above as it is unlisted(?) please follow this link to see his full write-up on STV News.

Also here's a link to the iNaturalist project.

and ACT's website.