Dinosaurs had feathers ruffled by parasites, study finds | The Guardian
Scientists have discovered ancient pieces of amber, dating from about 99m years ago, that contain dinosaur feathers riddled with louse-like insects. One of the feathers even shows signs of having been nibbled.
The team said it is the first time feather-eating insects have been discovered from that era – despite many non-avian dinosaurs and early birds having been identified as having plumage.
“This is the earliest recorded, or formally documented, [instance of] lice or louse-like insects feeding on feathers,” said Dr Chungkun Shih, a visiting professor at Capital Normal University in China and co-author of the research.
The discovery pushes back the origin of feather-munching insects by about 55m years. They were not the only parasites that might have troubled dinosaurs; previous research has shown that the beasts also endured blood-sucking ticks.
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, Shih and colleagues revealed how they found 10 tiny louse-like insects alongside two dinosaur feathers inside Burmese amber believed to date from about 99m years ago – or possibly earlier.
The team said the insects belonged to a previously unknown species, dubbed Mesophthirus engeli, and were nymphs – an immature stage of insect development. Among their features, the insects had tiny wingless bodies, of 0.14mm–0.23mm in length, strong chewing mouth parts with at least four teeth, and short, sturdy antennae. The team estimate that the insects would have reached about 0.5mm in length in their adult phase.
Shih said the size of the insects was a surprise, since fleas from the era were much larger than their modern counterparts. “Based on our studies of fossil fleas, we thought that if we were looking for lice, the size may be bigger than today’s lice, but [they] turned out to be very small,” he said. “That can explain why on compression fossils [in rocks] we cannot find any lice.”
Even within ancient amber, the insects are rare. Shih said the team looked at up to 1,000 pieces containing preserved bird or dinosaur feathers before making their discovery.
