Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Earth Science News .




FLORA AND FAUNA
Bizarre parasite from the Jurassic
by Staff Writers
Bonn, Germany (SPX) Jun 30, 2014


The Fossil: thanks to the fine-grained mudstone, the details of the two centimeter long parasite Qiyia jurassica are exceptionally preserved. Image courtesy Bo Wang, Nanjing.

Around 165 million years ago, a spectacular parasite was at home in the freshwater lakes of present-day Inner Mongolia (China): A fly larva with a thorax formed entirely like a sucking plate. With it, the animal could adhere to salamanders and suck their blood with its mouthparts formed like a sting. To date no insect is known that is equipped with a similar specialised design. The international scientific team is now presenting its findings in the journal "eLIFE".

The parasite, an elongate fly larva around two centimeters long, had undergone extreme changes over the course of evolution: The head is tiny in comparison to the body, tube-shaped with piercer-like mouthparts at the front. The mid-body (thorax) has been completely transformed underneath into a gigantic sucking plate; the hind-body (abdomen) has caterpillar-like legs.

The international research team believes that this unusual animal is a parasite which lived in a landscape with volcanoes and lakes what is now northeastern China around 165 million years ago. In this fresh water habitat, the parasite crawled onto passing salamanders, attached itself with its sucking plate, and penetrated the thin skin of the amphibians in order to suck blood from them.

"The parasite lived the life of Reilly", says Prof. Jes Rust from the Steinmann Institute for Geology, Mineralogy and Palaeontology of the University of Bonn. This is because there were many salamanders in the lakes, as fossil finds at the same location near Ningcheng in Inner Mongolia (China) have shown.

"There scientists had also found around 300,000 diverse and exceptionally preserved fossil insects", reports the Chinese scientist Dr. Bo Wang, who is researching in palaeontology at the University of Bonn as a PostDoc with sponsorship provided by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

The spectacular fly larva, which has received the scientific name of "Qiyia jurassica", however, was a quite unexpected find. "Qiyia" in Chinese means "bizarre"; "jurassica" refers to the Jurassic period to which the fossils belong.

A fine-grained mudstone ensured the good state of preservation of the fossil
For the international team of scientists from the University of Bonn, the Linyi University (China), the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology (China), the University of Kansas (USA) and the Natural History Museum in London (England), the insect larva is a spectacular find: "No insect exists today with a comparable body shape", says Dr Bo Wang.

That the bizarre larva from the Jurassic has remained so well-preserved to the present day is partly due to the fine-grained mudstone in which the animals were embedded.

"The finer the sediment, the better the details are reproduced in the fossils", explains Dr Torsten Wappler of the Steinmann-Institut of the University of Bonn. The conditions in the groundwater also prevented decomposition by bacteria.

Astonishingly, no fossil fish are found in the freshwater lakes of this Jurassic epoch in China. "On the other hand, there are almost unlimited finds of fossilised salamanders, which were found by the thousand", says Dr Bo Wang.

This unusual ecology could explain why the bizarre parasites survived in the lakes: fish are predators of fly larvae and usually hold them in check. "The extreme adaptations in the design of Qiyia jurassica show the extent to which organisms can specialise in the course of evolution", says Prof. Rust.

As unpleasant as the parasites were for the salamanders, their deaths were not caused by the fly larvae. "A parasite only sometimes kills its host when it has achieved its goal, for example, reproduction or feeding ", Dr Wappler explains.

If Qiyia jurassica had passed through the larval stage, it would have grown into an adult insect after completing metamorphosis. The scientists don't yet have enough information to speculate as to what the adult it would have looked like, and how it might have lived.

.


Related Links
University of Bonn
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








FLORA AND FAUNA
UNDP and Iran team to save Asiatic cheetah
Tehran (UPI) Jun 26, 2013
Iranian environmental officials are working with the United Nations to help save the Asiatic cheetah. Though they once roamed much of the Middle East and Asia, there are now only approximately 50 Asiatic cheetahs, all confined the northeast regions of Iran. That's why the U.N. Development Program has begun working with Iran's Department of Environment to raise awareness of the ch ... read more


FLORA AND FAUNA
Abandoned children fear as US troops eye Philippines

We Can Eliminate the Major Tornado Threat in Tornado Alley

Malaysia gets new transport minister amid MH370 crisis

Surviving without money, German woman's year-long adventure

FLORA AND FAUNA
Ghost writing the whip

Strange physics turns off laser

A breakthrough in creating invisibility cloaks, stealth technology

NIST technique could make sub-wavelength images at radio frequencies

FLORA AND FAUNA
Familiar yet strange: Water's 'split personality' revealed by computer model

Are Fish Near Extinction?

Can Coral Save Our Oceans?

The ENSO Signal and The Noise

FLORA AND FAUNA
One-well program in arctic waters starts for Gazprom division

Penguin colonies may move and adapt to climate change

Japan considering new base on Antarctica

Melting and refreezing of deep Greenland ice speeds flow to sea

FLORA AND FAUNA
Straw albedo mitigates extreme heat

Reorganization of crop production and trade could save China's water supply

Comparison study of planting methods shows drilling favorable for organic farming

Organic agriculture boosts biodiversity on farmlands

FLORA AND FAUNA
Double tropical storms dump heavy rains in Mexico

Victoria's volcano count rises

Online deluge washes away China 'piggyback' official

Strong quake strikes off N.Zealand's Kermadec Islands: USGS

FLORA AND FAUNA
China to re-open Somalia embassy: Beijing

Cameroon battles Nigeria's Boko Haram in remote border city

Suicide blast kills three in northeast Nigeria: residents

Chinese VP lauds better ties with African workers

FLORA AND FAUNA
Scientists chart a baby boom - in southwestern Native Americans from 500 to 1300 A.D.

Monkeys' facial features evolved to prevent crossbreeding

Advanced CLARITY Method Offers Faster, Better Views of Entire Brain

Humans have been changing Chinese environment for 3,000 years




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.