Parasitoid biology preserved in mineralized fossils.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30154438.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-05654-y and PMC identifier 6113268.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
About 50% of all animal species are considered parasites. The linkage of species diversity to a parasitic lifestyle is especially evident in the insect order Hymenoptera. However, fossil evidence for host-parasitoid interactions is extremely rare, rendering hypotheses on the evolution of parasitism assumptive. Here, using high-throughput synchrotron X-ray microtomography, we examine 1510 phosphatized fly pupae from the Paleogene of France and identify 55 parasitation events by four wasp species, providing morphological and ecological data. All species developed as solitary endoparasitoids inside their hosts and exhibit different morphological adaptations for exploiting the same hosts in one habitat. Our results allow systematic and ecological placement of four distinct endoparasitoids in the Paleogene and highlight the need to investigate ecological data preserved in the fossil record.
Medical subject headings
- Adaptation, Physiological
- Diptera
- Fossils
- Host-Parasite Interactions
- Wasps