The straight dope on fungi!

[DarkPrince]

Maybe someone can help me figure this one out. I remember a while back hearing about a type of fungus called something like Tomentilla or Tomentella, something like that. According to the source I heard it from, this stuff lived in the rainforest in the trees, and at some point during it's life it would drop spores and infect a living ant. The ant would be all wierd for a bit, then climb a tree. Once it reached the top the fungus would shoot an inch-long spike from the ant's head, like in Alien. Is this for real, or was my friend wrong or just full of crap?

[Bob Scene]

There are things a hell of a lot weirder than that out there. If you want to verify it, go to Google and type in Tomentella fungus ant. Here's one site you'll come up with: http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/stinkant.htm

[DarkPrince]

Thanks for the link, nothing turned up when I tried it with Yahoo. Damn, there's some wacky crap out there...