Cordyceps in glass

March 16, 2010 by myrmecos

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:

Posted in Ants | Tagged art, glass, Parasites | 11 Comments

11 Responses

on March 16, 2010 at 7:29 am Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist

very nice!!! but they look like they are made from creamy chocolate… mmmm
on March 16, 2010 at 7:33 am Mikey Bustos

Stunning! Amazing craftsmanship! Glass is certainly not an easy medium to work with.
on March 16, 2010 at 4:45 pm jtrager

Utterly cool, both the art and the Attenborough clip!
on March 16, 2010 at 5:43 pm TGIQ

My brain just exploded from “OMGSOCOOL” thanks to that clip.

OMGSOCOOL!!!!!!
on March 16, 2010 at 7:29 pm JasonC.

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.
- on March 16, 2010 at 8:13 pm myrmecos
  
  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.
on March 18, 2010 at 10:19 am Wesley Fleming

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 ;-)
on March 20, 2010 at 3:44 am Gleanings – mind & brain, law and war, media, bad trains [Neuron Culture] « Random Information

[…] 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. […]
on March 30, 2010 at 1:02 am Gleanings – mind & brain, law and war, media, bad trains [Neuron Culture] » iThinkEducation.net!

[…] 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. […]
on July 7, 2010 at 9:01 am Neuron Culture - Gleanings – mind & brain, law and war, media, bad trains

[…] 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. […]
on January 10, 2011 at 6:29 pm Jodi

They actual wild mushroom is extremely expensive, people have killed or died from harvesting the mushroom in the wild.