title: Extreme adaptations for aquatic ectoparasitism in a Jurassic fly larva.
abstract: The reconstruction of ancient insect ectoparasitism is challenging, mostly because of the extreme scarcity of fossils with obvious ectoparasitic features such as sucking-piercing mouthparts and specialized attachment organs. Here we describe a bizarre fly larva (Diptera), Qiyia jurassica gen. et sp. nov., from the Jurassic of China, that represents a stem group of the tabanomorph family Athericidae. Q. jurassica exhibits adaptations to an aquatic habitat. More importantly, it preserves an unusual combination of features including a thoracic sucker with six radial ridges, unique in insects, piercing-sucking mouthparts for fluid feeding, and crocheted ventral prolegs with upward directed bristles for anchoring and movement while submerged. We demonstrate that Q. jurassica was an aquatic ectoparasitic insect, probably feeding on the blood of salamanders. The finding reveals an extreme morphological specialization of fly larvae, and broadens our understanding of the diversity of ectoparasitism in Mesozoic insects.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02844.001.
authors: Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi, China.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China savantwang@gmail.com.
authors: Bo
authors: B
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, United States.
authors: Michael S
authors: MS
authors: Engel
authors: Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
authors: Torsten
authors: T
authors: Wappler
authors: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Edmund A
authors: EA
authors: Jarzembowski
authors: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.
authors: Haichun
authors: H
authors: Zhang
authors: Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi, China.
authors: Xiaoli
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi, China.
authors: Xiaoting
authors: X
authors: Zheng
authors: Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
authors: Jes
authors: J
authors: Rust
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D004175:Diptera / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D005580:Fossils; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: China; Diptera; fossil; urassic