I just learned about Zombie Cicadas and its disgusting.

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But also fascinating, the cicadas get infected by a psychedelic fungus that like replaces a third of their body but doesn't kill them, so they go about their normal behavior. And though they can not mate as the fungus has gotten rid of that they still try, which spreads the fungas but also they can spread it just by landing on areas and such and other cicadas being exposed that way.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/us/zombi ... Massospora.

It's just a good thing fungus does not have a brain, it would become the biggest threat to everything if it could actually think.

That’s not the only insect mind-controlling fungal parasite.

I was looking for a particular one I remember hearing about that affects ants, causing them to climb to a high place and then freeze, and then their abdomens swell and turn red, which makes them look like enticing berries to birds. Didn’t find that, but here’s some stuff I did find.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_unilateralis

https://www.futurity.org/fungi-insects-parasites-1170372-2/

https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1008598

There's a parasitic wasp called the Tarantula Hawk that paralyzes tarantulas, drags them back to it's nest, and lays eggs in the alive, paralyzed spider. When the eggs hatch the larva then eat the spider. It also has the most painful sting of any insect.

A real life insect version of this 1963 classic Japanese movie!

With a classic title:

"Matango! The Fungus of Terror!"

They're also not the only ones.

One time I was out taming overgrown plants in the backyard and found a caterpillar that had wasp larvae surrounding a wound (probably the injection site).

I majored in biology and have always been fascinated by arthropods

I found a tomato horn worm with wasp larvae on it.You are suppose to leave them since they are good for the garden, once those hornworms get big they can eat all the leaves off tomatoes and peppers overnight.