Abstract

We described ten nymph specimens of an insect, Mesophthirus engeli (incertae sedis), from the mid-Cretaceous Myanmar (Burmese) amber, preserved together with partially damaged dinosaur feathers. Based on the ectoparasitic morphological characters of these tiny insect nymphs, we concluded that Mesophthirus engeli was the earliest known feather-feeding insect and that integument-feeding behaviors of insects appeared during or before the mid-Cretaceous along with the radiations of feathered dinosaurs including birds. Grimaldi and Vea raised some concerns about these feather-feeding insects and supposed that the nymphs of Mesophthirus engeli were crawlers of scale insects, i.e. nymphal stages of Coccoidea, coincidentally co-occurring with damaged feathers. Shcherbakov (2022, this issue) accepted and developed the argumentation of Grimaldi and Vea (2021). We would like to address their concerns here.

中文翻译：

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回复：“拥有一亿年前恐龙羽毛的昆虫不是体外寄生虫”和“缅甸琥珀羽毛上的鳞翅目昆虫Mesophthirus (Homoptera Xylococccidae)——恐龙身上的风运输或Phoresy？”

摘要

我们描述了来自白垩纪中期缅甸（缅甸）琥珀的昆虫Mesophthirus engeli (incertae sedis)的 10 个若虫标本，与部分受损的恐龙羽毛一起保存。根据这些微小昆虫若虫的外寄生形态特征，我们得出结论，Mesophthirus engeli是已知最早的以羽毛为食的昆虫，昆虫的珠被摄食行为出现在白垩纪中期或之前，伴随着包括鸟类在内的羽毛恐龙的辐射。 . Grimaldi 和 Vea 对这些以羽毛为食的昆虫提出了一些担忧，并认为Mesophthirus engeli的若虫是蚧壳虫的爬行者，即球虫科的若虫阶段，恰好与受损的羽毛同时发生。Shcherbakov（2022，本期）接受并发展了 Grimaldi 和 Vea（2021）的论证。我们想在这里解决他们的担忧。