390
consumption by a potential predator. The presence of a long drilling ovipositor
(Fig. 11.1f) is strong evidence for parasitoidism.
Evidence for social parasitism is available from a rove beetle, Cretotrichopsenius
burmiticus, (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) from Myanmar amber (99 Ma). These beetles were assigned to the subfamily Aleocharinae and consisted of a horseshoe crab
or “limuloid” larval ecomorph with associated structural features that indicated termitophily and nest parasitism (Cai et al. 2017). Many specialized structures of this
aleocharine beetle have a mimetic body form of a termite worker caste that allowed
accommodation within termite society, probably Mastotermitidae or Kalotermitidae.
Notably, evidence for social parasitism was provided by another aleocharine rove
beetle from the same deposit, Mesosymbion compactus (Yamamoto et al. 2016),
which possessed a similar limuloid habitus and other structural features that are
associated with termitophily.
11.3.4 Host Tissue Damage
Physical evidence for parasitism can take many forms, including indirect and direct
evidence for parasites and parasitoids on a variety of arthropod and vertebrate hosts
(Boucot and Poinar Jr 2010; De Baets and Littlewood 2015; Dunlop 2021; Poinar
2021). One previously unrecorded type of paleopathological evidence is punctures
in the osteoderms of armadillos from the late Miocene of the Pampas, in Argentina
(Tomassini et al. 2016). Osteoderms occur occasionally in mammals and are particularly common in edentates that include Pleistocene glyptodonts and modern
armadillos. In these mammals, osteoderms are osseous or keratinous deposits that
form plates, scales or other flat structures embedded in the integument. Osteoderms
from the extinct armadillo Ciasicotatus ameghinoi (Cingulata: Dasypodidae) bear
punctures, sometimes clustered, that indicate feeding by the jigger flea Tunga
(Siphonaptera: Tungidae) when the host was still alive.
One mode of evidence involving tissue damage is the rare emergence of a parasitoid from its host, as revealed in 44 million-year-old middle Eocene Baltic Amber
(Leung 2017). From this deposit Poinar Jr and Miller (2002) document a parasitoid
wasp larva, identified as an extinct genus of the subfamily Neoneurinae
(Hymenoptera: Braconidae), exiting the abdomen of its host, a species of the garden
ant Lasius (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Both host and parasitoid were alive during
this episode, as the ant displays contorted body features in response to a stimulus
while the wasp larva began to secrete silk for its pupal case. Both behavioral features occurred immediately before their demise. This relationship, typical of certain
braconid wasps attacking Lasius ants today, is an interaction that has been pushed
back to the middle Eocene, demonstrating the antiquity of some highly specific
parasitoid–ant host interactions. Other types of evidence are more difficult to
C. C. Labandeira and L. Li
consumption by a potential predator. The presence of a long drilling ovipositor
(Fig. 11.1f) is strong evidence for parasitoidism.
Evidence for social parasitism is available from a rove beetle, Cretotrichopsenius
burmiticus, (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) from Myanmar amber (99 Ma). These beetles were assigned to the subfamily Aleocharinae and consisted of a horseshoe crab
or “limuloid” larval ecomorph with associated structural features that indicated termitophily and nest parasitism (Cai et al. 2017). Many specialized structures of this
aleocharine beetle have a mimetic body form of a termite worker caste that allowed
accommodation within termite society, probably Mastotermitidae or Kalotermitidae.
Notably, evidence for social parasitism was provided by another aleocharine rove
beetle from the same deposit, Mesosymbion compactus (Yamamoto et al. 2016),
which possessed a similar limuloid habitus and other structural features that are
associated with termitophily.
11.3.4 Host Tissue Damage
Physical evidence for parasitism can take many forms, including indirect and direct
evidence for parasites and parasitoids on a variety of arthropod and vertebrate hosts
(Boucot and Poinar Jr 2010; De Baets and Littlewood 2015; Dunlop 2021; Poinar
2021). One previously unrecorded type of paleopathological evidence is punctures
in the osteoderms of armadillos from the late Miocene of the Pampas, in Argentina
(Tomassini et al. 2016). Osteoderms occur occasionally in mammals and are particularly common in edentates that include Pleistocene glyptodonts and modern
armadillos. In these mammals, osteoderms are osseous or keratinous deposits that
form plates, scales or other flat structures embedded in the integument. Osteoderms
from the extinct armadillo Ciasicotatus ameghinoi (Cingulata: Dasypodidae) bear
punctures, sometimes clustered, that indicate feeding by the jigger flea Tunga
(Siphonaptera: Tungidae) when the host was still alive.
One mode of evidence involving tissue damage is the rare emergence of a parasitoid from its host, as revealed in 44 million-year-old middle Eocene Baltic Amber
(Leung 2017). From this deposit Poinar Jr and Miller (2002) document a parasitoid
wasp larva, identified as an extinct genus of the subfamily Neoneurinae
(Hymenoptera: Braconidae), exiting the abdomen of its host, a species of the garden
ant Lasius (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Both host and parasitoid were alive during
this episode, as the ant displays contorted body features in response to a stimulus
while the wasp larva began to secrete silk for its pupal case. Both behavioral features occurred immediately before their demise. This relationship, typical of certain
braconid wasps attacking Lasius ants today, is an interaction that has been pushed
back to the middle Eocene, demonstrating the antiquity of some highly specific
parasitoid–ant host interactions. Other types of evidence are more difficult to
C. C. Labandeira and L. Li