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Zhang Y, Rasnitsyn AP, Zhang W, Song F, Shih C, Ren D, Wang Y, Li H, Gao T. Stem chewing lice on Cretaceous feathers preserved in amber. Curr Biol 2024; 34:916-922.e1. [PMID: 38320551 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2023] [Revised: 12/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/08/2024]
Abstract
Phthirapteran lice (true lice or parasitic lice) are a major group of ectoparasitic insects living on their bird or mammal hosts during their entire life cycle.1 Due to their highly specialized lifestyles, they are extremely poorly represented in fossil records.2 Molecular clock estimations have speculated extensively about the origin time of parasitic lice,3,4 yet none have been confirmed unequivocally. Herein, we report a new family of stem chewing lice, based on two adult insects associated with several semiplume feathers preserved within a piece of Kachin amber from the mid-Cretaceous. They display some defining characteristics of the Amblycera, an early-diverging lineage of the crown lice group. These features include a wingless body, chewing mouthparts, narrow and small thorax, and short tarsus with elongated euplantulae. Our phylogenetic analysis places the new taxa in the Amblycera, and the discovery thus pushes back the lice fossil records by at least 55 million years. Furthermore, the new specimens show primitive characters such as compressed and club-shaped terminal segments of antennae, maxillary and labial palps, and unmodified femora of hind legs, providing key information for the evolutionary relationship between free-living booklice and parasitic lice. This suggests that some ectoparasitic characters defining the crown lice group might have evolved among amblyceran and non-amblyceran lice in parallel. These newly described fossil specimens imply at least a Cretaceous age of Phthiraptera.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanjie Zhang
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
| | - Alexandr P Rasnitsyn
- Borissiak Palaeontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117647, Russia; Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Weiwei Zhang
- Three Gorges Entomological Museum, Chongqing 400015, China
| | - Fan Song
- College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Chungkun Shih
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China; Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA
| | - Dong Ren
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
| | - Yongjie Wang
- Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China.
| | - Hu Li
- College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
| | - Taiping Gao
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China.
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Peñalver E, Peris D, Álvarez-Parra S, Grimaldi DA, Arillo A, Chiappe L, Delclòs X, Alcalá L, Sanz JL, Solórzano-Kraemer MM, Pérez-de la Fuente R. Symbiosis between Cretaceous dinosaurs and feather-feeding beetles. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2217872120. [PMID: 37068225 PMCID: PMC10151472 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2217872120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Extant terrestrial vertebrates, including birds, have a panoply of symbiotic relationships with many insects and arachnids, such as parasitism or mutualism. Yet, identifying arthropod-vertebrate symbioses in the fossil record has been based largely on indirect evidence; findings of direct association between arthropod guests and dinosaur host remains are exceedingly scarce. Here, we present direct and indirect evidence demonstrating that beetle larvae fed on feathers from an undetermined theropod host (avian or nonavian) 105 million y ago. An exceptional amber assemblage is reported of larval molts (exuviae) intimately associated with plumulaceous feather and other remains, as well as three additional amber pieces preserving isolated conspecific exuviae. Samples were found in the roughly coeval Spanish amber deposits of El Soplao, San Just, and Peñacerrada I. Integration of the morphological, systematic, and taphonomic data shows that the beetle larval exuviae, belonging to three developmental stages, are most consistent with skin/hide beetles (family Dermestidae), an ecologically important group with extant keratophagous species that commonly inhabit bird and mammal nests. These findings show that a symbiotic relationship involving keratophagy comparable to that of beetles and birds in current ecosystems existed between their Early Cretaceous relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enrique Peñalver
- Centro Nacional Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Valencia46004, Spain
| | - David Peris
- Departament de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l’Oceà, Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona08028, Spain
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona08028, Spain
- Institut Botànic de Barcelona (CSIC-Ajuntament de Barcelona), Barcelona08038, Spain
| | - Sergio Álvarez-Parra
- Departament de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l’Oceà, Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona08028, Spain
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona08028, Spain
| | - David A. Grimaldi
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New YorkNY10024-5192
| | - Antonio Arillo
- Departamento de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense, Madrid28040, Spain
| | - Luis Chiappe
- Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles90007
| | - Xavier Delclòs
- Departament de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l’Oceà, Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona08028, Spain
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona08028, Spain
| | - Luis Alcalá
- Parque de las Ciencias de Andalucía, Granada18006, Spain
| | - José Luis Sanz
- Unidad de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid28049, Spain
- Real Academia Española de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Madrid28004, Spain
| | - Mónica M. Solórzano-Kraemer
- Department of Palaeontology and Historical Geology, Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main60325, Germany
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