Sex-crazed ‘zombie cicadas’ infected with STD fungus called Massopora may invade US, experts say

Billions of cicadas are poised to emerge from the depths, but some will escape their underground abode as sex-crazed ‘zombies’.

The winged insects have fallen victim to a parasitic fungus, called Massopora cicadina, which eats away the creature’s abdomen, genitals and buttocks – and replaces them with fungal spores.

Once in charge, the fungus directs the infected male to perform a mating ritual by flapping its wings, tempting unsuspecting males to pass on the fungus.

“It’s pretty brilliant and technically it’s a sexually transmitted disease,” Smithsonian Entomologist and Collection Manager Floyd Shockley told DailyMail.com.

‘(The fungus) creates a plug of spores that looks like the end of the abdomen is still intact, but it eats away the reproductive organs (making them infertile) and causes the abdominal segments to fall off.

‘It creates the sting to keep the cicada alive as long as possible. A dead cicada is not a very efficient vector for spreading to other cicadas.’

He went on to explain that cicadas are not dead, nor do they crave brains, unlike zombies, but are ‘very much alive’.

The infection begins when the nymphs travel to the surface and climb through spores in the soil.

“While males and females can be infected equally, the fungus produces a hallucinogenic compound that results in a change in infected males,” Shockley said.

‘They are thrown into sexual overdrive and respond to mating calls from males and will flap their wings like females receptive to mating.

“By doing that, they can infect both males and females… and they’re tricked into doing it as much as they can for as long as they can before they eventually succumb to the fungus and die.”

Cicadas typically live four to six weeks after coming to the surface, but Shockley said the infected have much shorter lifespans — but the amount is unknown.

“The mushroom produces the same hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms, psilocybin or amphetamine-cathinone, which suppresses appetite and throws the mating instinct into hyperdrive,” Shockley said.

‘The fungus chemically induces a behavior that the male is genetically wired to recognize and imitate.’

For the first time since the 19th century, two cicada chicks will emerge in more than a dozen states, mate and lay millions more eggs.

The insects – known for their screeching noise – hibernate in either 13- or 17-year cycles, but a group from each will emerge together this year.

The attack is set for 16 states that are likely to see hundreds, if not thousands, of trees ‘damaged beyond recovery’, a professor at Tennessee Tech University warned.

Dr. Gene Kritsky, a professor, entomologist and cicada expert at Mount St. Joseph University, told DailyMail.com in January: ‘The double resurrection is a one in two or three life event.

“This happens 12 times every 221 years, but this is the first time since 1803 that these broods will appear together.”

Brood XIX last appeared in 2011, but is now set to be unleashed in parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

The other group, Brood XIII, has a 17-year cycle and last reared its head in 2007.

States set for Brood XIII include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin.

Brood XIX, known as the Northern Illinois Brood, contains three different species of cicadas and the Great Southern Brood, or Brood XIII, has four species.

Brood XIX will begin their great escape from Earth closer to mid-May.

And will be mostly located in Midwestern states.

Brood XIII will begin to escape from the ground in late April through the second week of May.

“Southern states want them the last week of April, followed by parts of Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia in May,” said Kritsky, who recently published a book called ‘A tale of two tribes: The emergence of periodical cicada breeders XIII and XIX in 2024.’

“By the third week of May, the bugs will start showing up in Illinois and Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa.”

The soil must first reach the perfect temperature of 64 degrees Fahrenheit at a depth of 12 to 18 inches in the soil before the insects emerge.

Soil temperatures act as a signal to cicadas, telling them that the outside world is optimal for survival – but cold is not a cicada killer.

“We need two or three days above 80 degrees for the ground to reach 64 degrees,” Kritsky said.

‘Cicadas have receptors that are triggered when temperatures get warmer.’

Experts have predicted that forested areas, including green urban areas, will experience a greater attack than agricultural regions.

However, the insects are mostly a nuisance to humans – rather than a danger.

Cicadas do not carry disease, but create crevices in tree branches to lay their eggs.

Kritsky said the insects act as natural gardeners for mature trees by cutting holes in branches the size of human fingers.

“It provides natural aeration in the summer and allows rain to seep into the soil and trees,” he continued.

‘But a new sapling will be killed. When the females lay eggs in young tree branches, the insects sometimes weaken this branch.

‘The branch will hang there and the leaves will turn brown in what is called flagging.

‘I have seen a young plant of an oak tree. Cicadas were everywhere in the branches and every branch was flaking. The tree starved to death.’

Cicadas prefer specific trees such as oak, maple and some fruits such as cherry and pear.