Hi all,

I came across some interesting articles about cicadas containing some psychoactive compounds. I did a quick search on nexus and couldn't any existing threads so I thought I'd share. Sorry if this has already been brought up. Here is what i found....

Reports of diseased cicadas flying around with missing abdomens.
May 2016, 150 affected species were collected for research. It was discovered that cicadas were infected by fungas known as Massospora. During their accent above ground, they come in contact with Massospora fungal spores. After weeks of carrying Massospora, their abdomens fall off and are replaced with the white fungus. (yuck right?) Further research of Massopora shows that contains psilocybin and cathonine. Both of which affect the cicadas differently depending on species.

Periodical Cicada. genus - Magicicada:
These are found in Eastern and Central United States. Spends most of its life underground as a nymph. Only emerges every 13 or 17 years. Lifespan above ground is relatively, short 3 to 6 weeks. Different broods emerge at different times. eg. Brood 8 last emerged in 2019 and 2002 before that and will not surface until 2036. The fungi attacks and changes the behavior of the cicadas. It is thought the cathonine makes them more sexual active to help spread its spores while the psilocybin calms the cicada down, keeping it in a dream like state so it isn't aware its abdomen has fallen off.
Some annual cicada species are also affected by Massospora.

Some interesting facts I learnt:
Massospora is the first fungi found to contain cathinone. Also found in khat.
Massospora can not be grown so research can only be done directly with the infected cicadas.
It would take a dozen or more to get high of these cicadas. (Dr Matt Kasson)
No permit required from DEA to work with these cicadas.

Lots of articles out there. Hopefully more research will be done and published soon as I'm still very interested. Pity they have only been found in America so far.

Has anybody come across this in real life? If so can you share more information, experience etc.
Please add anything important I may have missed.

sources:
https://www.theatlantic....-drugs-its-hosts/566324/
https://blogs.agu.org/sc...cicadas-magic-mushrooms/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSmD43tS9O0

There were others but I found these best.

Enjoy,

Phangz.

Oh my god that is creepy as hell

Even if they would contain 10 trips in 1 cicade, I would not even try eating one without the fungi

Crazy story though, nature is just weird ...

I found this super interesting 👍👍👍... I kinda feel bad for the cicadas though but I guess if they’re tripping so hard they don’t mind then it’s ok.. anyways ty for the read

Ah, this is that fungus that makes the cicadas gay.

Yes, there was a thread about it somewhere last year, I'm sure we can dig it out for comparison.

∆ Yeah, didn't "they" just discover this a couple years ago?

Oh god, the beauty of nature is only a consolation for it's brutality...

Yes it was about two years ago:
https://www.dmt-nexus.me...&m=896143#post896143

And yes, it's all so brueautifal!

Ahhhh, sorry about the repost.

However, I did do a search with both "massospora" and "cicada" in the search box beforehand which came back as "no results found." Could there be an error with the searches??