A fungus drugs cicadas with an amphetamine-like compound while eating them alive

Massospora cicadina infects periodical cicadas and replaces their abdomen with a chalky plug of fungal spores, yet the insects keep flying and courting as if nothing happened. In 2019 researchers found the fungus produces cathinone, a psychoactive compound related to amphetamine, inside infected cicadas. Infected males even flick their wings the way females do, luring healthy males close enough to spread more spores.

— Greg R. Boyce et al., Psychoactive plant- and mushroom-associated alkaloids from two behavior-modifying cicada pathogens — Fungal Ecology, 2019