A newly discovered spider species in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest mimics the zombie fungus that inspired HBO's The Last of Us. Herpetologist Alexander Bentley found the spider while leading a tour group when what appeared to be a fungal growth suddenly moved. The spider, later identified as Taczanowskia waska, had evolved to imitate gibellula fungus to avoid predators.

Citizen scientists on iNaturalist first identified the spider as a fungal mimic rather than actual cordyceps. Arachnid curator David Ricardo Díaz-Guevara studied the specimen and published findings in Zootaxa with colleagues Nadine Dupérré and Bentley. The spider's abdomen features hornlike structures that closely resemble the fruiting bodies of parasitic fungi.

The discovery reveals a remarkable example of Batesian mimicry where the spider evolved to look like something dead to avoid being eaten. Researchers found similar fungal-mimicking spiders worldwide, all belonging to the Araneidae family. The Taczanowskia genus remains poorly understood, with only eight described species since its 1879 discovery and most specimens being female.