IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v9y2018i1d10.1038_s41467-018-05654-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Parasitoid biology preserved in mineralized fossils

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas van de Kamp

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))

  • Achim H. Schwermann

    (LWL-Museum of Natural History
    University of Bonn)

  • Tomy dos Santos Rolo

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))

  • Philipp D. Lösel

    (Heidelberg University)

  • Thomas Engler

    (University of Bonn)

  • Walter Etter

    (Natural History Museum Basel)

  • Tomáš Faragó

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))

  • Jörg Göttlicher

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))

  • Vincent Heuveline

    (Heidelberg University)

  • Andreas Kopmann

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))

  • Bastian Mähler

    (University of Bonn)

  • Thomas Mörs

    (Swedish Museum of Natural History)

  • Janes Odar

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))

  • Jes Rust

    (University of Bonn)

  • Nicholas Tan Jerome

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))

  • Matthias Vogelgesang

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))

  • Tilo Baumbach

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
    Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))

  • Lars Krogmann

    (State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart
    University of Hohenheim)

Abstract

About 50% of all animal species are considered parasites. The linkage of species diversity to a parasitic lifestyle is especially evident in the insect order Hymenoptera. However, fossil evidence for host–parasitoid interactions is extremely rare, rendering hypotheses on the evolution of parasitism assumptive. Here, using high-throughput synchrotron X-ray microtomography, we examine 1510 phosphatized fly pupae from the Paleogene of France and identify 55 parasitation events by four wasp species, providing morphological and ecological data. All species developed as solitary endoparasitoids inside their hosts and exhibit different morphological adaptations for exploiting the same hosts in one habitat. Our results allow systematic and ecological placement of four distinct endoparasitoids in the Paleogene and highlight the need to investigate ecological data preserved in the fossil record.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas van de Kamp & Achim H. Schwermann & Tomy dos Santos Rolo & Philipp D. Lösel & Thomas Engler & Walter Etter & Tomáš Faragó & Jörg Göttlicher & Vincent Heuveline & Andreas Kopmann & Bastian Mähle, 2018. "Parasitoid biology preserved in mineralized fossils," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-05654-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05654-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05654-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-018-05654-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-05654-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.