Malaria in Fossilised Bat Flies encased in Amber - research Paper

Background

Both sexes of bat flies in the families Nycteribiidae and Streblidae (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea) reside in the hair or on the wing membranes of bats and feed on blood.

Members of the Nycteribiidae transmit bat malaria globally however extant streblids have never been implemented as vectors of bat malaria.

The present study shows that during the Tertiary, streblids also were vectors of bat malaria.

Results

A new haemospororidan, Vetufebrus ovatus, n. gen., n. sp., (Haemospororida: Plasmodiidae) is described from two oocysts attached to the midgut wall and sporozoites in salivary glands and ducts of a fossil bat fly (Diptera: Streblidae) in Dominican amber.

The new genus is characterised by ovoid oocysts, short, stubby sporozoites with rounded ends and its occurrence in a fossil streblid.

This is the first haemosporidian reported from a streblid bat fly and shows that representatives of the Hippoboscoidea were vectoring bat malaria in the New World by the mid-Tertiary.

Conclusions

This report is the first evidence of an extant or extinct streblid bat fly transmitting malaria.

Discovering a mid-tertiary malarial parasite in a fossil streblid that closely resembles members of a malarial genus found in nycteribiid bat flies today shows how little we know about the vector associations of streblids.

While no malaria parasites have been found in extant streblids, they probably occur and it is possible that streblids were the earliest lineage of flies that transmitted bat malaria to Chiroptera.

Vetufebrus ovatus n. gen., n. sp. (Haemospororida: Plasmodiidae) vectored by a streblid bat fly (Diptera: Streblidae) in Dominican amber

Malaria Found in Blood Sucking Bug Fossilised in Amber

Researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) have discovered the fossil of a blood-sucking vampire bat fly, in the La Búcara mine - which is located in the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range of the Dominican Republic.

The researchers discovered the tiny insect frozen in amber (fossilised tree sap). The fossil is between 20 and 30 million years old.

Incidentally, the scientists also found the bat fly was carrying a strain of the malaria disease; this provides evidence that the disease may have existed even 20 million years ago.

"Bat flies are a remarkable case of specific evolution, animals that have co-evolved with bats and are found nowhere else," said George Poinar, a Professor of Zoology at OSU.

The researchers also stressed that bat flies were not common creatures and that not every bat feeds on blood.

Nevertheless, the species is widespread, with different animals appearing at different places around the world.

"Bats are mammals that go back about 50 million years, the only true flying mammal, and the earliest species had claws and climbed trees," Poinar added.

"We now know that bat flies have been parasitising them for at least half that time, and they are found exclusively in their fur. They are somewhat flat-sided like a flea, allowing them to move more easily through bat fur," he concluded.

Blood-Sucking Bat Fly Fossil Discovered in Amber

Researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) have discovered the fossil of a blood-sucking vampire bat fly, in the La Búcara mine - which is located in the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range of the Dominican Republic.

The researchers discovered the tiny insect frozen in amber (fossilised tree sap). The fossil is between 20 and 30 million years old.

Incidentally, the scientists also found the bat fly was carrying a strain of the malaria disease; this provides evidence that the disease may have existed even 20 million years ago.

"Bat flies are a remarkable case of specific evolution, animals that have co-evolved with bats and are found nowhere else," said George Poinar, a Professor of Zoology at OSU.

The researchers also stressed that bat flies were not common creatures and that not every bat feeds on blood.

Nevertheless, the species is widespread, with different animals appearing at different places around the world.

"Bats are mammals that go back about 50 million years, the only true flying mammal, and the earliest species had claws and climbed trees," Poinar added.

"We now know that bat flies have been parasitising them for at least half that time, and they are found exclusively in their fur. They are somewhat flat-sided like a flea, allowing them to move more easily through bat fur," he concluded.

Gecko in Amber Jewellery: 100 Million Years Old

(Image: George Poinar / WWF Nepal)

This is Cretacegekko burmae, an ancient gecko preserved in Cretaceous amber.

Vast numbers of plants and invertebrates are preserved in amber, but vertebrate fossils like this one are very, very rare.

Hundreds of Insect Fossils found in Amber