An unusual insect, Costa Rica

Sometimes we come across some unusual sights during our travels—not all of them pretty.

This is a dead moth we saw in Manuel San Antonio National Park, on Costa Rica's Pacific coast.  Our guide explained the moth was infected by a fungus that killed it.  The fungus used the moth's body as a culture medium.  The white growth we see on the moth's body is an overgrowth of the fungus, which then releases spores into the environment, and the process repeats itself with a different host in the future.