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Huge Jurassic Fleas May Have Fed On Dinosaurs
ananyo writes "Primitive fleas were built to sup on dinosaur blood in the Jurassic period, more than 150 million years ago. The potential host–parasite relationship has been uncovered thanks to a set of beautifully preserved fossils found in China. Today, the varied group of parasitic insects known as fleas frequently infests mammals and birds. But little is known about their origins. Researchers have now extended the history of the parasites by at least 60 million years. Whereas modern fleas range from 1 to 10 millimeters in length, the Jurassic and Cretaceous species were between 8 and 21 millimeters. The Jurassic and Cretaceous fleas also lacked the spring-legged, jumping specializations of modern species, and their siphoning mouthparts were armored structures studded with saw-like projections, unlike the smooth jaws of modern fleas."
I bet Fred Flintstone spent a fortune on Dino Advantix II
I think I read bacteria were the size of pancakes. And pancakes were the size of the manhole covers. Libraries of Congress were smaller then though.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Written as "huge" I was expecting 8 to 21 cm not 8 to 21 mm. Sooo unimpressed.
I'm told you guys in Florida have cockroaches the size of dachshunds, that kind of scale is what I was expecting.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Fast food meals?
Oh look, the monkey is capable of primitive thinking!
More O2 and CO2, at double the atmospheric pressure of today, so higher partial pressures of oxygen and fewer problems getting oxygen to the extremities. I think.
Yes, but the size of a VW Bug has always been a constant, thus explaining its popularity as a unit of comparative measurement.
How come Slashdot never gets Slashdotted?
Not that phone box. The other one.
"Whereas modern fleas range from 1 to 10 millimeters in length ..."
Whoa, 1cm sounds pretty darned big for a flea. That's about the same size as a typical bee. Wikipedia says fleas reach up to 3.3mm which seems more reasonable to me.
Anybody know of a modern-day flea species that actually reaches 10mm? (What do they live on, elephants?)
Actually, they worked amazingly well. Humans or even primates have yet to come close to the length of time they dominated the planet. Only when circumstances changed drastically, they were unable to survive.
Humanity is ever trying to close the gap with the dinosaurs in that area but failing so far. However, the current experiment in geo-engineering are going to be quite helpful towards the goal of catching up with the dinosaurs.
Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)