A Unique Mesozoic Parasitic Association
A Unique Mesozoic Parasitic Association
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DOI：
10.1007/s001140050405
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发表时间：
1997-07
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
G. Poinar Jr.;G. W. Krantz;A. Boucot;Ted M. Pike
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
G. Poinar Jr.;G. W. Krantz;A. Boucot;Ted M. Pike
An erythraeid mite parasitizing a chironomid midge in Cretaceous amber represents a unique host-parasite association with no present-day counterpart. This find is a rare exception to the concept of behavioral fixity in parasitism, namely that with the exception of a few speculative relationships involving marine invertebrates, all fossil host-parasite associations have modern-day counterparts at the family level [1]. The larval mite (391 μm in length), an apparently extinct species of Erythraeidae, is situated on the dorsal abdominal surface on an adult female midge (896 μm in length; Chironomidae: Diptera) of the extant genus Metriocnemus (Fig. 1). The specimens occur in Canadian Cretaceous amber from the Foremost Formation (Judith River Group) dating approximately 79 million years [2](specimen deposited in the Royal Tyrrell Museum, acc.# 92.8. 5). Erythraeid larvae are parasitic on a variety of arthropods hosts [3], but there are no records, extinct or extant, of erythraeids parasitic on chironomid midges. The mite bears some resemblance to the extinct Cretaceous Proterythraeus southcotti Vercammen-
