New insects feeding on dinosaur feathers in mid-Cretaceous amber

被引：35

作者：

Gao, Taiping ^{[1
,2
]}

Yin, Xiangchu ^{[3
]}

Shih, Chungkun ^{[1
,2
,4
]}

Rasnitsyn, Alexandr P. ^{[5
,6
]}

Xu, Xing ^{[7
,8
]}

Chen, Sha ^{[1
,2
]}

Wang, Chen ^{[9
]}

Ren, Dong ^{[1
,2
]}

机构：

[1] Capital Normal Univ, Coll Life Sci, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu Haidian Dist, Beijing 100048, Peoples R China

[2] Capital Normal Univ, Acad Multidisciplinary Studies, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu Haidian Dist, Beijing 100048, Peoples R China

[3] Chinese Acad Sci, Northwest Inst Plateau Biol, 23 Xinning Rd, Xining 810008, Qinghai, Peoples R China

[4] Smithsonian Inst, Dept Paleobiol, Natl Museum Nat Hist, Washington, DC 20013 USA

[5] Russian Acad Sci, AA Borissiak Palaeontol Inst, Moscow 117647, Russia

[6] Nat Hist Museum, Cromwell Rd, London SW7 5BD, England

[7] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Vertebrate Paleontol & Paleoanthropol, Key Lab Vertebrate Evolut & Human Origins, Beijing 100044, Peoples R China

[8] Chinese Acad Sci, Ctr Excellence Life & Paleoenvironm, Beijing, Peoples R China

[9] Capital Med Univ, Sch Hlth Adm & Educ, 10 Xitoutiao, Beijing 100069, Peoples R China

来源：

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | 2019年 / 10卷 / 1期

基金：

中国国家自然科学基金;

关键词：

D O I：

10.1038/s41467-019-13516-4

中图分类号：

O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

Due to a lack of Mesozoic fossil records, the origins and early evolution of feather-feeding behaviors by insects are obscure. Here, we report ten nymph specimens of a new lineage of insect, Mesophthirus engeli gen et. sp. nov. within Mesophthiridae fam. nov. from the mid-Cretaceous (ca. 100 Mya) Myanmar (Burmese) amber. This new insect Glade shows a series of ectoparasitic morphological characters such as tiny wingless body, head with strong chewing mouthparts, robust and short antennae having long setae, legs with only one single tarsal claw associated with two additional long setae, etc. Most significantly, these insects are preserved with partially damaged dinosaur feathers, the damage of which was probably made by these insects' integument-feeding behaviors. This finding demonstrates that feather-feeding behaviors of insects originated at least in mid-Cretaceous, accompanying the radiation of feathered dinosaurs including early birds.

引用

页数：7

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