NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Like other fungi pathogenic to insects in the genus Ophiocordyceps, the fungus targets a specific host species, Camponotus leonardi; despite this, the fungus may parasitize other closely related species of ants with lesser degrees of host manipulation and reproductive success.

Detailed explanation-2: -Cordyceps ultimately kills its host and grows a tendril-like stalk from the corpse of the infected that can take weeks to grow in full. When fully developed, the tendril releases new cordyceps spores, infecting other insects matching the host’s species in the vicinity.

Detailed explanation-3: -In the show, the mutated Cordyceps spread rapidly to humans through an infected food supply.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus has just one goal: self-propagation and dispersal. Researchers think the fungus, found in tropical forests, infects a foraging ant through spores that attach and penetrate the exoskeleton and slowly takes over its behavior.

Detailed explanation-5: –This symbiosis between the ant and the fungi is parasitism because one of the specie (the cordyceps fungi) is benefited, its able to reproduce and multiplicate itself. However the ants are impaired because they get infected and eventually die.