Emerging Cicadas Infected with Fungus Become "Saltshakers of Death"

A strange fungus could transform emerging cicadas into sex-crazed ‘saltshakers of death,’ according to scientists.

This spring, billions of cicadas will emerge after more than a decade underground, and only around 5% of them are fungus-infected causing them to lose their genitals.

The infected and disemboweled cicada flies around sprinkling brown spores that's why they are called 'saltshakers of death.'

According to scientists, "Unlike other fungal pathogens, the fungus Massospora cicadina doesn’t kill the insects on which it grows. Instead, it forces the cicadas to act in ways that promote the fungus’s spread."

The spores go on to infect the next generation of cicadas that will emerge more than a decade later and begin the cycle again.