Silver Spotted Skipper with a mushroom from it's eye

[Danny]

In this months BBC Wildlife mag there is a picture of a SSS with a mushroom growing from behind it's eye!! Literally a full on, capped toadstool albeit a very tiny one. Article says they are quite common, though I've never seen it before. I wondered if anybody else in here has taken pics of such a thing...sorry don't have the link for an on line pic. It's on Page 71 on the "Your Q&A" page. The answer says it's an entomogenous fungi and they attack a number of hosts and that this one is unidentifyable but has evolved to parasitise butterflies.

Danny

[Zonda]

Insects seem to be prone to fungal attack. Unlike us humans who only suffer a bit of athletes foot, ringworm, or thrush, the fungal attacks on insects can be very invasive, and ultimately fatal. One of the main culprits are the Cordyceps genus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps