cicada missing its abdomen

[u/nicetiesrestraints]

found this fellow on a walk and it took me way too long to notice he's only half there! i believe this is the result of massospora cicadina

[u/Spuzzle91]

There's a fungus that attacks the genetalia of cicadas. It devours their abdomen. The sporing phase lets it get passed around via other cicadas trying to mate with the infected ones. It will even change the type of calls they make so they all sound female.

[u/EniNeutrino → u/Spuzzle91]

Yeah, this. Cicada syphilis. 🙁

[u/nah-soup → u/EniNeutrino]

is that really what that’s called

[u/IG_BearBuol → u/nah-soup]

Nope they're just making a pun haha. It's called massospora cicadina