summit diseases

Noun

summit disease (countable and uncountable, plural summit diseases)

1. A disease (usually fungal, caused by the species complex Entomophaga grylli) that affects various species of insect, especially grasshoppers, whereby the infected individual typically climbs to the upper parts of a plant, attaches itself there and dies, at which point the infecting agent disperses itself, usually in the form of spores.
   • Some fungus mediated behavioral changes have been recorded, such as "summit disease" where infected grasshoppers climb to the top of plants to die[…]. This may aid spore dispersal, but it has also been suggested that it is a mechanism by which the host reduces infection through increased exposure...2010, M[ark] S[tanislaw] Goettel, J[ørgen] Eilenberg, T[ravis] Glare, “Entomopathogenic Fungi and Their Role in Regulation of Insect Populations”, in Lawrence I[rwin] Gilbert, Sarjeet S[ingh] Gill...

   Synonyms:

   treetop disease