ix
Preface
Over 50% of living organisms have been interpreted to be parasitic, and most organisms host at least one species of parasite during their life. Their historical reputation
is not the best for obvious reasons. This is even worse in the fossil record where
parasites and their traces are considered to be too scarce to be helpful. Although
some reviews have been published in the last decades, these often involve works of
archaeological remains or focus on particular groups or time intervals. The fossil
record is often still ignored by parasitologists and palaeontologists alike and only
briefly mentioned in works focusing on parasite evolution and ecology. We felt we
wanted to change this by highlighting the importance of the fossil record in reconstruction of the evolution of parasitism. During a research stay of John in Erlangen,
we decided this could best be done in the form of two volumes dedicated to the
evolution and fossil record of parasitism. The first volume covers the palaeobiological constraints on the fossil record, while the second volume focuses on novel techniques as well as the merit of co-evolutionary and pathological information linked
with parasitic disease. Furthermore, we do not only discuss the origin of modern
groups of parasites but also groups which are now extinct. We hope you as a reader
will learn about how one can study parasites in the fossil record as well as what they
can tell us about the evolution of parasitism. This journey started when looking for
particular authors to contribute to this work—special thanks goes to all of them in
accepting, contributing, and bearing with us during this endeavour. Special thanks
also to the reviewers as well as Franz Anthony who designed the accompanying
illustration featuring some more and some lesser known fossil parasites. Despite
being two parasite aficionados, we have learned a lot about the parasite fossil record
and evolution during the preparation and editing of this book. These volumes demonstrate that a lot of progress has been made, but also highlight areas where there is
still some work to be done. This is particularly true regarding the prevalence of
parasites and gaining a better understanding of their taphonomy and temporal and
spatial trends. At least some of these things might benefit from novel techniques
such a computed tomography and genomics. Both of us have been working on
Preface
Over 50% of living organisms have been interpreted to be parasitic, and most organisms host at least one species of parasite during their life. Their historical reputation
is not the best for obvious reasons. This is even worse in the fossil record where
parasites and their traces are considered to be too scarce to be helpful. Although
some reviews have been published in the last decades, these often involve works of
archaeological remains or focus on particular groups or time intervals. The fossil
record is often still ignored by parasitologists and palaeontologists alike and only
briefly mentioned in works focusing on parasite evolution and ecology. We felt we
wanted to change this by highlighting the importance of the fossil record in reconstruction of the evolution of parasitism. During a research stay of John in Erlangen,
we decided this could best be done in the form of two volumes dedicated to the
evolution and fossil record of parasitism. The first volume covers the palaeobiological constraints on the fossil record, while the second volume focuses on novel techniques as well as the merit of co-evolutionary and pathological information linked
with parasitic disease. Furthermore, we do not only discuss the origin of modern
groups of parasites but also groups which are now extinct. We hope you as a reader
will learn about how one can study parasites in the fossil record as well as what they
can tell us about the evolution of parasitism. This journey started when looking for
particular authors to contribute to this work—special thanks goes to all of them in
accepting, contributing, and bearing with us during this endeavour. Special thanks
also to the reviewers as well as Franz Anthony who designed the accompanying
illustration featuring some more and some lesser known fossil parasites. Despite
being two parasite aficionados, we have learned a lot about the parasite fossil record
and evolution during the preparation and editing of this book. These volumes demonstrate that a lot of progress has been made, but also highlight areas where there is
still some work to be done. This is particularly true regarding the prevalence of
parasites and gaining a better understanding of their taphonomy and temporal and
spatial trends. At least some of these things might benefit from novel techniques
such a computed tomography and genomics. Both of us have been working on