You may remember Wesley Fleming, the glass artist I blogged about last year. It seems he’s accomplished a remarkable new piece: a leafcutter ant infected with a parasitic Cordyceps fungus. As far as I know this is the first Cordyceps ever created from glass.
If you’d like to see it in person, this and some of Fleming’s other pieces will be on display at the Racine Art Museum this summer.
What is Cordyceps, you ask? Watch:
very nice!!! but they look like they are made from creamy chocolate… mmmm
Stunning! Amazing craftsmanship! Glass is certainly not an easy medium to work with.
Utterly cool, both the art and the Attenborough clip!
My brain just exploded from “OMGSOCOOL” thanks to that clip.
OMGSOCOOL!!!!!!
Why do they always show Paraponera whenever they want to talk about Cordyceps? I’ve seen so many pictures of Paraponera being infected, and now this.
Yeah, that’s true. I’m guessing it’s the sheer size of the ant. Not only are Paraponera super-obvious, most general wildlife photographers can shoot them without the specialized macro gear needed for most ants.
Alex – thanks for posting this!
Apparently paraponera was chosen because the artist has a history with them and has no imagination after having watched that clip. I say that as the artist, of course LOL!
I’m glad no one commented on the liberties I took with the cordyceps, itself
[...] Cordyceps in glass, by glass artist Wesley Fleming — a strange depiction of a rather horrid business. For more, do go to the source, the lovely Myrmecos Blog, which is all about bugs. [...]
[...] Cordyceps in glass, by glass artist Wesley Fleming — a strange depiction of a rather horrid business. For more, do go to the source, the lovely Myrmecos Blog, which is all about bugs. [...]
[...] Cordyceps in glass, by glass artist Wesley Fleming — a strange depiction of a rather horrid business. For more, do go to the source, the lovely Myrmecos Blog, which is all about bugs. [...]
They actual wild mushroom is extremely expensive, people have killed or died from harvesting the mushroom in the wild.