Bizarre Parasite from the Jurassic
![The Fossil: thanks to the fine-grained mudstone, the details of the two centimeter long parasite Qiyia jurassica are exceptionally preserved. Credit: Photo: Bo Wang, Nanjing Bizarre Parasite from the Jurassic](https://alaska-native-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/75239_web.jpg)
Around 165 million years ago, a spectacular parasite was at home in the freshwater lakes of present-day Inner Mongolia (China): A fly larva with a thorax formed entirely like a sucking plate. With it, the animal could adhere to salamanders and suck their blood with its mouthparts formed like a sting. To date no insect […]