Entomophthora muscae

Entomophthora muscae transforms house flies into zombies through behavioral manipulation convergently evolved from Ophiocordyceps but using different molecular mechanisms. Infected flies climb to elevated positions—high on walls, stems, or other vertical surfaces—extend their mouthparts to anchor themselves, raise their wings, and die in this distinctive posture. The elevated position and raised wings optimize spore dispersal when the fungus erupts from the dead fly's body.

The 'summit disease' behavior—climbing to heights before death—appears across diverse insect-fungal systems and represents convergent evolution of the same manipulative strategy. Different fungal lineages independently discovered that positioning dying hosts in elevated locations improves spore dispersal. The consistency of this convergence suggests it's a robustly advantageous strategy whenever wind-dispersed spores are involved.

E. muscae also manipulates timing. Infected flies typically die in early evening, when atmospheric conditions favor spore dispersal. The fungus appears to sense time of day and trigger death behavior during optimal windows. This temporal precision adds another dimension to behavioral manipulation—controlling not just what the host does and where, but when. The integration of spatial positioning and temporal timing demonstrates sophisticated coordination of host behavior for parasite benefit.