In summer, after the ascospores shoot out of the ascospores, they produce germ tubes (or conidia produce germ tubes), which penetrate into the host larvae to grow. Infected larvae burrow into the soil and form sclerotia in winter, which destroys the internal organs of larvae, but the horny skin of larvae is still intact. The next summer, a daughter was born from the front end of the larva's body. ?
Formation process
Every summer, on the plateau meadow above 3000 meters above sea level, small and flowery adult bat moths will lay thousands of Qian Qian eggs on the ground. After a month or so of incubation, moth eggs will turn into worms, then burrow into moist and loose soil, absorb the nutrition of plant roots, and gradually raise the body white and fat.
There is a spherical cordyceps fungus ascospore in the soil layer. When caterpillar larvae are attacked by spores, they drill into the shallow layer of the ground. Spores grow in the larvae, and the internal organs of the larvae disappear little by little. Finally, the larvae die face down. At this point, the insect body becomes a body full of hyphae and is buried in the soil. This is the "winter bug".
After a winter, the mycelium began to grow again in the spring and summer of the following year. A purple grass grows from the mouth or head of the dead larva, which is 2-5 cm high and has a pineapple-shaped capsule at the top. It is called "summer grass". In this way, the larvae and the growing grass together form a complete "Cordyceps sinensis".