The Mystery of the Dinosaur Lice In Amber

#insectdiversity #insectanatomy #insectmorphology #insecttaxonomy #entomology #insects #dinosaurs #amber
How did a bunch of baby plant pests get confused with dinosaur parasites trapped in amber?
Articles:
Gao, T., Yin, X., Shih, C. et al. New insects feeding on dinosaur feathers in mid-Cretaceous amber. Nat Commun 10, 5424 (2019). doi.org/10.103...
www.nature.com...
Grimaldi DA, Vea IM. Insects with 100 million-year-old dinosaur feathers are not ectoparasites. Nat Commun. 2021 Mar 5;12(1):1469. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21751-x. PMID: 33674573; PMCID: PMC7935990.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.n...
Shcherbakov, D. E. "Crawlers of the Scale Insect Mesophthirus (Homoptera: Xylococcidae) on Feathers in Burmese Amber-Wind Transport or Phoresy on Dinosaurs?." Paleontological Journal 56.3 (2022): 338-348.

[@themechanicalentry]

I'm relatively new here - started watching your videos when your "why no sea insects" video went popular, and I subscribed thinking why not, maybe I'll find something else interesting sometime in the channel. Gosh, reality is, I have watched every video you released since, and they are all interesting even if I don't think I'll be interested in them from the title. So, basically, I see a video of yours, I click. Thanks for your hard work.

[@EntoExplorer]

I'm glad you have found something you like. The world of invertebrates goes overlooked by most people, but it is really alien and fun. I'm happy you are here!

[@ethandoingstuff1433]

Coming from a botanical perspective. Unhealthy plants are often attacked by plant suckers. They can detect the difference in phytochemistry and will target individual plants. It’s quite plausible that an unhealthy plant had a lot of suckers on it. Unhealthy plants also weep sap. It seems fairly simple for a dinosaur to scratch itself against a particularly unhealthy tree, immediately bumping into the insects and losing the feathers into the sap, creating the incredible amber we have today.

[@kiri101]

Dinosaur feathers? Dinosaur feathers WITH creatures in them?! I'm ready to take this ride! Your sea insect video was a great jumping off point. Gynandromorphy video even had more visual examples than just the classic butterfly and bird! I see many more subscribers in your future.

[@EntoExplorer]

thanks for coming by!

[@sofie-gold]

Subscribed! Always excited to find a science channel that actually dives into research. Fantastic talk. Can't wait to watch your other vids \o/

[@EntoExplorer]

Welcome aboard!

[@supcr0w]

Great content as always.

[@EntoExplorer]

Much appreciated!

[@b.griffin317]

Liked, subscribed and commented. 👍

[@EntoExplorer]

Welcome aboard!

[@Prince_of_Ruins]

Very cool

[@JForrestFisher--76]

A lot of stuff is either begnign or much less hostile to the orgnism that it lives on that similar orgisms that could afflict it if the native populations didn't deny the invaders easy opportunities to colonize the organism.

[@Invisfire777]

First.

[@EntoExplorer]

Thanks for showing up!