Parasitic Fungi Sprouting From Hornet's Body

This greater banded hornet (vespa tropica) probably died days ago, and it was still stuck on the leaf waiting for its body decomposed with fungus. The parasitic fungi can be seen sprouting from the hornet's body. Once the fungi has attached itself to an insect, it slowly penetrates its skeleton and brain. The insect effectively becomes a zombie as the infection slowly takes over its body. Since it was not longer moving, I could freely take photos in very close range. this hornet was hard to catch when it was still alive, it is fast flyer and only make a very short stop before taking off to another spot. So here I go, I finally notice one of its kinds died on the leaf which allowed me to witness how the insect died.

It came to my understanding, the fungus would consume whole their body and turn themselves into zombie fungi. It is considered a local hornet that is usually seen around the bush, grassland, leftovers, and carrion looking for the flies that are also attracted to them. It is also recognized as the sting hornet that becomes aggressive and attacks when they are under the threat.

I assume I was lucky to see it calm on that day since it is often spotted as a busy insect and was difficult to take pictures from close range. So, when I saw it making a bit move on the leave, I thought that was my chance to get its photos. I did not even think that it would be aggressive and stung me right before I took the picture, but thank for its calmnes.

Hornets can be significant predators of honeybees and their larvae, which is bad news in areas that depend on honeybees for crop pollination and honey production. This species is better known as a greater banded hornet (vespa tropica), stays under the relative the Asian honeybee (Apis cerana) that used its sting to paralyze the preys and the threat objects. It belongs to the family Vespidae, in the genus vespa.

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Camera	Smartphone
Category	Macrophotography
Lens	Lensbong Macro/Modified Macro lens