Dinosaur fleas

2012/03/07 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Paleontologia
• Zoologia
• Eboluzioa
• Arkeologia

The University of Kansas paleontologists have discovered fossils of the oldest known fleas. These are 15-20 mm giants, whose legs were not adapted to jump like the current ones, and in view of the oral structures of blood absorption, researchers have concluded that they could pierce the thick skin of dinosaurs.The study has been published in the journal Nature.

The fossils were found in two deposits in the northern half of China, one from the Jurassic, 165 million years, and another from the Cretaceous, 125 million years. Fossils are in very good condition and this discovery has filled a large hole in the fossil record of fleas. In fact, apart from a highly discussed Cretaceous record, the rest of known fossils were more than 65 million years ago, very similar to the current ones.