I was about to ask if the white mold-like half was a fungal infection! That’s really cool.
~Max
I felt like Jerry Falwell Jr watching that.
You were absolutely right on this. I have been keeping a watch on the mushroom (especially because it attracts snail activity) and the white was actually a powder on the surface instead of the surface color as I had assumed. The parasite is now deep in the yellow phase. And possibly psychotrophic. Late last night I found three snails grouped a few inches from the decaying remnants and put them on top to see if they wanted to eat it. They did, but quickly started acting weird. I think that I may have accidentally drugged them. (Even while leaving they seemed less nervous than usual around the ants.)
Other adventures of snails in 'shroomland. (After seeing so many ants around, I sprinkled around some sugar and uncooked grits to attract more action.)
(In the last two videos with the red-on-black ant war going on in the background, note the periodic appearance of the big red ant with the little (I think dead) black ant latched on to a back leg, with the red ant trying shake it off like a mailman with a Chihuahua.)