Multiple lineages of lice pass through the K-Pg boundary

Biology Letters. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0105

Multiple lineages of lice pass through the K-Pg boundary

VINCENT S. SMITH, TOM FORD, KEVIN P. JOHNSON, PAUL C. D. JOHNSON, KAZUNORI YOSHIZAWA, JESSICA E. LIGHT.

Corresponding Author: Vincent Smith
e-mail: vince@vsmith.info

Status: Published in Biology Letters

Media Summary

Did Dinosaurs have lice? Using molecular dating techniques we demonstrate that the major groups of parasitic lice began to radiate before the extinction of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. As obligate ectoparasitic insects, lice are dependent on their hosts for their survival. Our reconstruction of louse evolutionary history provides a timeline for the association of these parasites with their hosts, and supports a Cretaceous diversification of many modern bird and mammal lineages. These data give an early- to mid-Cretaceous origin (115–130 Myr) for lice, which suggests that these parasites probably infested feathered theropod dinosaurs.

Abstract

For modern lineages of birds and mammals, few fossils have been found that predate the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary. However, molecular studies using fossil calibrations have shown that many of these lineages existed at that time. Both birds and mammals are parasitised by obligate ectoparasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera), which have shared a long coevolutionary history with their hosts. Evaluating whether many lineages of lice passed through the K-Pg boundary would provide insight into the radiation of their hosts. Using molecular dating techniques we demonstrate that the major louse suborders began to radiate before the K-Pg boundary. These data lend support to a Cretaceous diversification of many modern bird and mammal lineages.

---

Preprint

(please read the copyright notice)

This is available to download as an Adode Acrobat PDF file. To view these you need Adobe Acrobat, which is available for Macs, PCs, and Unix from here. With version 3.0 you can view PDF files from within your Web browser.

(Reprint PDF 244 KB)

(Supplementary Methods PDF 418 KB)

Smith, V.S., Ford, T., Johnson, K.P., Johnson, P.C.D., Yoshizawa, K., Light, J.E.. (2011) Multiple lineages of lice pass through the K-Pg boundary. Biology Letters. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0105.

---

Supporting Images

These images are not present in the paper, but may be used without prior consent by media organisations when discussing this research.
• Supplementary Image 1 JPG TIFF PSD. Megamenopon rasnitsyni (left) and its and its extant close relative Holomenopon brevithoracicum (right). Megamenopon rasnitsyni is arguably the only know fossil bird louse. This exceptionally well-preserved specimen was collected from the crater of the Eckfeld maar near Manderscheid, Germany and is 44 million years old. It shows close phylogenetic affinities with modern feather louse ectoparasites of aquatic birds. Scale bars: 2mm (left) and 0.5mm (right).
• Supplementary Image 2. The chewing louse Paraclisis from a Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans). Albatross lice were used as one of the calibration points to date the diversification on extant lice in this study.
• Supplementary Image 3.The Ostrich louse Struthiolipeurus. This bird louse was included in the study.
• Supplementary Image 4. The mammal louse Trichophilopterus babakotophilus from Verreaux's Sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi), a medium sized lemur in Madagascar. This louse was included in the study.
• Supplementary Image 5 JPG TIFF PSD. Some of the some of the lice featured in this study. Family and order names in parentheses. From left to right, top to bottom: Ricinus fringillae (Ricinidae: Amblycera), Actornithophilus uniseriatus (Menoponidae: Amblycera), Oxylipeurus (Philopteridae: Ischnocera), Hoplopleura acanthopus (Hoplopleuridae: Anoplura), Echinophthirius horridus (Echinophthiriidae: Anoplura), Haematomyzus elephantis (Haematomyzidae: Rhynchophthirina), Pediculus humanus (Pediculidae: Anoplura), Pthirus pubis (Pthiridae: Anoplura), Linognathus setosus (Linognathidae: Anoplura).