"The Impending Emergence: Trillions of Cicadas and Their Eerie Transformative Fungus"
A strange fungus called Massospora cicadina hijacks cicadas' bodies and behavior, destroying their genitals and replacing their abdomens with fungal spores, causing hypersexual behavior to spread the fungus further. Infected cicadas, termed "saltshakers of death," rain down spores while attempting to mate, and researchers have found amphetamines in the fungal plugs, potentially explaining the cicadas' behavior. This spring, two different broods of periodical cicadas will emerge simultaneously, and while cicadas are edible, caution is advised as up to 10% of them might develop the grotesque fungal infection.
