吃恐龙羽毛的昆虫 《自然-通讯》

　　 论文标题：New insects feeding on dinosaur feathers in mid-Cretaceous amber

　　 期刊：Nature Communications

　　 作者：Taiping Gao, Xiangchu Yin et.al

　　 发表时间：2019/12/10

　　 数字识别码：10.1038/s41467-019-13516-4

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《自然-通讯》本周发表的一项研究New insects feeding on dinosaur feathers in mid-Cretaceous amber发现，带羽毛的恐龙身上寄生有一种与现代虱类似的昆虫。这种新发现的昆虫物种名为恩氏中生食毛虫(Mesophthirus engeli)，与部分受损的恐龙羽毛同时保存在有着约1亿年历史的琥珀中。

中白垩世琥珀中以恐龙羽毛为食的Mesophthirus engeli发育较晚期复原图

图片来源：王晨

由于中生代化石记录（2.5亿年前-6500万年前）存在空白，研究人员对昆虫取食羽毛行为的起源和演化一直不甚了解。此前，侏罗世（2.01亿年前-1.45亿年前）和白垩世（1.45亿年前-6600万年前）均发现过以血液为食的昆虫。虽然带羽毛的恐龙在此期间很常见，但以恐龙羽毛为食的昆虫之前从未有过报道。

中国北京首都师范大学的任东、美国华盛顿特区国家自然历史博物馆的史宗冈、高太平和同事分析了来自缅甸北部克钦地区的两块琥珀中与两根恐龙羽毛一同保存下来的十个昆虫若虫。这些无翅昆虫有着类似于现代虱的躯体模式，尤其是它们还有很强壮的咀嚼式口器。其中一根羽毛存在受损痕迹，显然被咀嚼过，且受损痕迹与寄生了虱的现代鸟类羽毛很像。这一新发现表明，吃羽毛的寄生虫在中白垩世期间或之前就已经出现了，与鸟类和带羽毛恐龙的多样性分化约处于同一时期。

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 clade 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.

　　 （来源：科学网）

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