New Transitional Fleas from China Highlighting Diversity of Early Cretaceous Ectoparasitic Insects
New Transitional Fleas from China Highlighting Diversity of Early Cretaceous Ectoparasitic Insects
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来自中国的新过渡跳蚤凸显了早白垩世外寄生昆虫的多样性
DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2013.05.040
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发表时间：
2013-07-08
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Ren, Dong
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gao, Taiping;Shih, Chungkun;Ren, Dong
跳蚤是一组高度专业化的吸血体外寄生虫，其早期进化史知之甚少[1，2]。虽然最近的几项发现为该种群的起源提供了新的线索[3，4]，但茎蚤和冠蚤之间存在相当大的差距。本文报道了一新的过渡蚤--美丽蜥尾蚤Saurophthirus exquisitus sp. nov.，归属于一个新的科--蜥脚虫科（Saurophthiridae fam.）十一月，产于中国东北部早白垩世义县组。与其他茎蚤相比，蜥脚类更类似于冠蚤，它们有相对较小的身体尺寸，相对较短和细长的刺吸口针口器，短而紧凑的触角，胸部有一排排短而硬的刚毛，以及高度细长的腿。这一新发现极大地提高了我们对现存跳蚤向高度专业化的身体计划形态转变的理解。然而，蜥脚类也显示出一些其他跳蚤所不知道的特征，其中一些特征暗示了可能与同时代的翼龙有着体外寄生的关系，尽管也存在其他的可能性。这些新的化石，加上以前的发现，突出了中生代中期体外寄生昆虫的广泛多样性。
Fleas are a group of highly specialized blood-feeding ectoparasites whose early evolutionary history is poorly known [1, 2]. Although several recent discoveries have shed new light on the origin of the group [3, 4], a considerable gap exists between stem fleas and crown fleas. Here we report a new transitional flea, Saurophthirus exquisitus sp. nov., assigned to a new family Saurophthiridae fam. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of northeastern China. Saurophthirids are more similar to crown fleas than other stem fleas in having a relatively small body size, relatively short and slender piercing-sucking stylet mouthparts, comparably short and compact antennae, rows of short and stiff bristles on the thorax, and highly elongated legs. The new finding greatly improves our understanding of the morphological transition to the highly specialized body plan of extant fleas. However, saurophthirids also display several features unknown in other fleas, and some of these features are suggestive of a possible ectoparasitic relationship to contemporaneous pterosaurs, though other possibilities exist. The new fossils, in conjunction with previous discoveries, highlight a broad diversity of ectoparasitic insects in the mid-Mesozoic.