A mind-controlling fungus that hijacks the free will of insects has exploded out of its victim on camera.
The eye-catching photograph is the winner of this year's image competition, which is in its second year of showcasing the remarkable ways animals and plants interact in the natural world.
Natural relationships are not always friendly, as shown by the prize winning snap of the fly-infecting fungus. One party can take all the life out of the other.
The bug that was infecting the fly in the image above is part of a complex of zombies.
The insect can be forced to lock on to a leaf in any location it pleases when the parasites team up inside a carpenter ants.
The host is eaten from the inside out by the parasites. The host's fruiting body sends a probing arm out of his head when the meal is over.
A lot of people are at risk of being killed by fungi. The winner of the image competition shows what happens when a fly is bitten by a zombie.
The finale was captured by a photographer in a national reserve.
A conquest that has been shaped by thousands of years of evolution is depicted in the image.
The fly has been forced to migrate to a location that is more favorable for the growth of the so-called 'zombie' fungus, due to the fact that it has been invaded by the so-called 'zombie' fungus. The bodies of the fruiting flies will be thrown away in order to spread the disease.
When a zombie emerges from its host, it's hard for us to see anything else.
The winning photograph was described by one of the board members as something out of science fiction.
She explains that it shows both life and death at the same time.
It's a little less magical, but like a rising Phoenix from the ashes.
The images were published in a journal.
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