1
© The Author(s) 2021
K. De Baets, J. W. Huntley (eds.), The Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism,
Topics in Geobiology 49, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42484-8_1
Chapter 1
Parasites of Fossil Vertebrates: What
We Know and What Can We Expect
from the Fossil Record?
Tommy L. F. Leung
Abstract Parasites are ubiquitous in extant ecosystems and vertebrate animals
often harbour rich parasite communities. However, the geological record of parasites is extremely sparse as their very nature means they are rarely fossilised. The
few fossil parasites which have been described have provided interesting insights
into the evolution of various parasite taxa, and the development of technology such
as high-resolution computed tomography has made detecting signs of parasitism in
the fossil record more practical. In this chapter, I will provide an overview of
vertebrate- infecting macroparasites which have been described from fossils, and
compare those fossil forms with their extant counterparts. I will also discuss what
those fossils can tell us about the evolution of parasitism and the ecology of their
hosts, the type of parasite fossils which may be associated with fossil vertebrates,
and suggest some future research directions which combine aspects of palaeontology, ecology, and parasitology.
Keywords Parasitism · Parasites · Parasite communities · Helminths · Arthropods
· Amber · Coprolite · Palaeoecology
1.1 Introduction
Parasites are ubiquitous in extant ecosystems, many of them play important ecosystem roles and form key parts of many food webs (Lafferty et al. 2006; Hatcher and
Dunn 2011). As a life-style, parasitism has evolved independently multiple times in
many disparate groups of organisms (Poulin and Morand 2004; Poulin 2007;
Weinstein and Kuris 2016), and extant vertebrates are host to rich communities of
T. L. F. Leung ()
School of Environmental & Rural Sciences, University of New England,
Armidale, NSW, Australia
e-mail: tleung6@une.edu.au
© The Author(s) 2021
K. De Baets, J. W. Huntley (eds.), The Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism,
Topics in Geobiology 49, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42484-8_1
Chapter 1
Parasites of Fossil Vertebrates: What
We Know and What Can We Expect
from the Fossil Record?
Tommy L. F. Leung
Abstract Parasites are ubiquitous in extant ecosystems and vertebrate animals
often harbour rich parasite communities. However, the geological record of parasites is extremely sparse as their very nature means they are rarely fossilised. The
few fossil parasites which have been described have provided interesting insights
into the evolution of various parasite taxa, and the development of technology such
as high-resolution computed tomography has made detecting signs of parasitism in
the fossil record more practical. In this chapter, I will provide an overview of
vertebrate- infecting macroparasites which have been described from fossils, and
compare those fossil forms with their extant counterparts. I will also discuss what
those fossils can tell us about the evolution of parasitism and the ecology of their
hosts, the type of parasite fossils which may be associated with fossil vertebrates,
and suggest some future research directions which combine aspects of palaeontology, ecology, and parasitology.
Keywords Parasitism · Parasites · Parasite communities · Helminths · Arthropods
· Amber · Coprolite · Palaeoecology
1.1 Introduction
Parasites are ubiquitous in extant ecosystems, many of them play important ecosystem roles and form key parts of many food webs (Lafferty et al. 2006; Hatcher and
Dunn 2011). As a life-style, parasitism has evolved independently multiple times in
many disparate groups of organisms (Poulin and Morand 2004; Poulin 2007;
Weinstein and Kuris 2016), and extant vertebrates are host to rich communities of
T. L. F. Leung ()
School of Environmental & Rural Sciences, University of New England,
Armidale, NSW, Australia
e-mail: tleung6@une.edu.au