A New Enantiornithine Bird with Unusual Pedal Proportions Found in Amber

Xing, Lida; O’Connor, Jingmai K.; Chiappe, Luis M.; McKellar, Ryan C.; Carroll, Nathan; Hu, Han; Bai, Ming; Lei, Fuming

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.05.077

Cited by 13 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The plumage of diverse theropods has been well characterized in finely preserved Mesozoic compression fossils ( 6 , 7 ). In Cretaceous amber, theropods are much less diverse, but the feathers are preserved in unmatched detail ( 8 – 13 ). In contrast, the only definitive keratophagous arthropod hitherto identified in the fossil record is a chewing louse (Amblycera) of the family Menoponidae, preserved as a compression fossil from the Eocene of the German outcrop of Messel; the remains of feather barbules preserved in its gut are direct evidence of keratophagy ( 14 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbiosis between Cretaceous dinosaurs and feather-feeding beetles

Peñalver

Peris

Álvarez-Parra

et al. 2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Extant terrestrial vertebrates, including birds, have a panoply of symbiotic relationships with many insects and arachnids, such as parasitism or mutualism. Yet, identifying arthropod–vertebrate symbioses in the fossil record has been based largely on indirect evidence; findings of direct association between arthropod guests and dinosaur host remains are exceedingly scarce. Here, we present direct and indirect evidence demonstrating that beetle larvae fed on feathers from an undetermined theropod host (avian or nonavian) 105 million y ago. An exceptional amber assemblage is reported of larval molts (exuviae) intimately associated with plumulaceous feather and other remains, as well as three additional amber pieces preserving isolated conspecific exuviae. Samples were found in the roughly coeval Spanish amber deposits of El Soplao, San Just, and Peñacerrada I. Integration of the morphological, systematic, and taphonomic data shows that the beetle larval exuviae, belonging to three developmental stages, are most consistent with skin/hide beetles (family Dermestidae), an ecologically important group with extant keratophagous species that commonly inhabit bird and mammal nests. These findings show that a symbiotic relationship involving keratophagy comparable to that of beetles and birds in current ecosystems existed between their Early Cretaceous relatives.

show abstract