Deadly Insect Virus Turns North Carolina Bugs Into Purple-Blue Color

An insect virus is turning multiple bugs in North Carolina, United States into purple-blue color, according to reports in late April. The pathogen is deadly and affects not only insects but also crustaceans.

However, scientists say the deadly insect pathogen does not infect human cells. This means that the virus has not evolved yet enough to adjust and feed inside the human body.

The virus group responsible for the infections is called invertebrate iridescent viruses (IIVs). One species belonging to this group is called the invertebrate iridescent virus 31, also known as isopod iridovirus. This IIVs species is under the genus Iridovirus which targets isopods, consisting of crustaceans, including woodlice, characterized by their hard and segmented exoskeletons with multiple legs.

North Carolina Insect Virus

A photographer named Josh Coogler from Dallas, North Carolina, found a group of these Smurf-like insects in his backyard on April 26, wherein he shared his discovery of the iridescent invertebrates to social media. Coogler told Newsweek he has known about the brightly-colored invertebrates for years, emphasizing he usually sees them rare but recently found seven of them within a minute or two.

Vera Ros, a virology professor at the Netherland's Wageningen University, also told Newsweek that IIVs target insects and crustaceans but often those animals inside aquatic or damp habitats or soil-dwelling species.

Ros said most infections affect isopods, mosquitoes, beetles, and caterpillars, alternatively called as lepidopteran larvae. Still, other insect species or groups can be infected too.

In the case of woodlice, the IIRVs turns their color into purple-blue, which determines a high degree of the infection. The color change is a manifestation of how the virus grows in the animal's body.

The virus forms crystal-like structures made up of many virus particles inside the moodlouse, according to Samuel Jones, a researcher at the University of Manchester, who explained these crystals refract light in a certain way to create light, he told Newsweek.

Jones adds the process is called structural color and is evident in some insects like the butterfly's wings and in some fruits and berries which are not caused by a virus.

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Color Indication

Ros explained the severity of the infection determines the colors, ranging from lavender to turquoise for heavily infected species. The spread of the virus among animals is transmitted through cannibalism, predation, and necrophagy.

The transmissions infects not only invertebrates like (arachnids cephalopods, molluscs, nematodes, polychaetes, arachnids, cephalopods, crustaceans, insects, molluscs, nematodes, and polychaetes) but also poikilothermic vertebrates like amphibians, fishes, and reptiles, according to a National Library of Medicine article.

Aside from North Carolina, insects infected with IIRVs can be found worldwide, including Asia, North America,, Australia, Europe, and Australia.

Jones has spearheaded a team called Blue Woodlice to help him find the location of the IIRVs of the location across the United Kingdom and North America.