Biting Insects May Have Killed Off Dino

Biting Insects May Have Killed Off Dino

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A new book argues that the demise of the dinosaurs was due not to an asteroid impact, nor massive volcanic eruptions in India, but instead to tiny biting disease-spreading insects and arachnids — mosquitoes, mites, ticks and biting flies.

"There are serious problems with the sudden-impact theories of dinosaur extinction, not the least of which is that dinosaurs declined and disappeared over a period of hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years," entomologist George O. Poinar, Jr., said in a press release from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore., last week.

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Poinar's new book, "What Bugged the Dinosaurs?: Insects, Disease, and Death in the

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Insect Attack May Have Been Death Knell for Dinosaurs

[edit on 7/1/08 by plumranch]

Oregon researchers found Leishmania and Malaria in insects preserved in amber from the Late Cretaceous dinosaur era. There diseases affect birds and lizards today so presumably could have caused the demize of the dinosaurs. Several other disease conditions could have contributed also that are insect born such as internal paracites and arboviruses.

This is a more plausible explanation for dinosaur extinction to me rather than one or 2 catastrophic events. Diseases and parasitisms could have done a more complete job of extinction over time.

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This is a really interesting little fact that seems to be skipped. Those darn insects are always around somehow to be a nuisance

Here is a sample of the book: What bugged the dinosaurs?

another link about amber and insects:
Neotropical Amber

Amazing how these buggers stay around w/ little change, I think we can learn a lot from them from how they adapt and their body functions...

really neat thread

reply to post by qd22vcc

Hi Q, Right on! I read some of the book and thought it readable and compelling.

I once did undergraduate studies in insects and also parasitology. Never underestimate the lowly insect esp. its ability to spread disease! So many disease cycles involve the little buggers in one way or another. Here is an example of just one insect study on ecosystem effects.

reply to post by plumranch


40 years ago i went to a museum that had models? made to exact size of the insects that lived duing the times of the dinosaurs-----these insects were bigger than an average size man----they were huge--just regular size insects have made my life "hell on earth" during some camping trips and while working outside doing construction work years ago.the dinosaur type insects would kill one of us with just one probe for our blood.

This doesn't explain what killed the dinosaurs that lived in the ocean and seas. Mosquitos lay their eggs in the water, but cannot dive under water to kill prey.

Not biting. If there was a cataclysmic asteroid that hit Earth, then over time Im sure that would have wiped out most of the dinosaur population. Maybe insects had a part to play in it as the topic suggests, but really, the asteroid explanation works well too.

reply to post by 3_Libras

Hi Libras,
I agree. What the authors found was disease in the flies that were preserved at the same time as disosaurs and these were diseases that could be debilitating if not lethal to modern lizzards. They also found evidence of parasitism in dinosaur poop. This then led to the assumption that insect related diseases could have done in the dinos. Catastrophic conditions would have severely thinned the dinos also. I would suppose that like other species severe thinning of the populations could lead to die out.

Originally posted by plumranch
reply to post by 3_Libras

 

Hi Libras,
I agree. What the authors found was disease in the flies that were preserved at the same time as disosaurs and these were diseases that could be debilitating if not lethal to modern lizzards. They also found evidence of parasitism in dinosaur poop. This then led to the assumption that insect related diseases could have done in the dinos. Catastrophic conditions would have severely thinned the dinos also. I would suppose that like other species severe thinning of the populations could lead to die out.

Yeah, I think that would be the most likely scenario - even if all scenarios have an edge of assumption involved. Its pretty well regarded that certain insects have a resilience to such events. So what Im wondering is what was the cause of the disease that the insects would have carried to kill of the dinosaurs? Was it a result of the cataclysmic event?

reply to post by 3_Libras

So what Im wondering is what was the cause of the disease that the insects would have carried to kill of the dinosaurs? Was it a result of the cataclysmic event?

Now that's the question! Leishmaniasis and malaria are still around affecting Hu and animals. So they were present way back then! And where did these diseases come from? What I suspect more is that as death and dieing became more common due to the awful event, insect populations thrived and there were more insects present to act as vectors of disease thus snowballing the problem.

Another sinerio, if insects were not present for much of the dinosaur period and they were suddenly introduced somehow then diseases could be more quickly and easily spread adversely affecting vulnerable dino populations.

Originally posted by plumranch
reply to post by 3_Libras

 

So what Im wondering is what was the cause of the disease that the insects would have carried to kill of the dinosaurs? Was it a result of the cataclysmic event?

Now that's the question! Leishmaniasis and malaria are still around affecting Hu and animals. So they were present way back then! And where did these diseases come from? What I suspect more is that as death and dieing became more common due to the awful event, insect populations thrived and there were more insects present to act as vectors of disease thus snowballing the problem.

Another sinerio, if insects were not present for much of the dinosaur period and they were suddenly introduced somehow then diseases could be more quickly and easily spread adversely affecting vulnerable dino populations.

Yeah good point actually, makes sense. I dont suppose that the asteroid themselves could have left residual bacteria following the impact, which may in turn have been carried by insects. But you're right I think.

Or how about, it was the ancient people who killed off dinos and ate all of them?

That could be it....

Since these insects seem to shape and influence ecosystems I wonder, since someone brought up the dinosaurs being in water as well, w/ the effects of the dinos on land, that may have put the sea animals at a possible advantage to further develop/adapt/evolve???

reply to post by qd22vcc

that may have put the sea animals at a possible advantage to further develop/adapt/evolve???

Hi qd, You may be onto something. I wonder if the authors discuss this in the book. But you're right that at least the flying insects wouldn't be bothering the aquatic spp. or sea dino's (if there were any). Nematodes (worms) would still be a factor and the water could still be infected or contaminated with microorganisms. There were aquatic spp. of dino's, even stagosaurus spent a lot of time in the water also the Pliosaur (the T. rex of the sea) and others.

There were multiple causes.

The impact, massive volcano activity in india and i heared about a possible second impact.

Diseases wreaking havoc could only have happened on such a large scale if all continents were connected which didnt happen and even still has to be a wierd virus to target a entire group of animals like the dinosaurs.
It would be like if all mammals died now.

reply to post by tomcat ha

to be a wierd virus to target a entire group of animals like the dinosaurs.

Hi Tomcat, I agree that such a pandemic type of malady is not probable however never underestimate the lowly insect. They were probably able to spread all over via the wind and their reproductive capacity.

And what the earth looked like back then is conjecture but I've heard that it was lower, swampier and the continental drift had not seperated and uplifted the contenents like they are now.


[edit on 10/1/08 by plumranch]