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.

Blood sucking Chupacabras: Goatsucker mite

As Halloween approaches, tales of monsters and creepy crawlies abound. Among the most fearsome is the legendary beast known as the chupacabras.

But the real fiend is not the hairless, fanged animal purported to attack and drink the blood of livestock; it’s a tiny, eight-legged creature that turns a healthy, wild animal into a chupacabras, says University of Michigan biologist Barry O' Connor.

The existence of the chupacabras, also known as the goatsucker, was first surmised from livestock attacks in Puerto Rico, where dead sheep were discovered with puncture wounds, completely drained of blood. Similar reports began accumulating from other locations in Latin America and the U.S.

Then came sightings of evil-looking animals, variously described as dog-like, rodent-like or reptile-like, with long snouts, large fangs, leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and a nasty odor. Locals put two and two together and assumed the ugly varmints were responsible for the killings.

Scientists studied some of the chupacabras carcasses and concluded that the dreaded monsters actually were coyotes with extreme cases of mange—a skin condition caused by mites burrowing under the skin. OConnor, who studies the mites that cause mange, concurs and has an idea why the tiny assailants affect wild coyotes so severely, turning them into atrocities.

In a recent “Monster Talk” podcast posted on Skeptic magazine’s website, O' Connor explained that the mite responsible for the extreme hair loss seen in “chupacabras syndrome” is Sarcoptes scabiei, which also causes the itchy rash known as scabies in people.

Human scabies is an annoyance, but not usually a serious health or appearance problem, partly because our bodies are already virtually hairless and partly because the population of mites on a given person usually is relatively small—only 20 or 30 mites.

Evolutionary studies done by O' Connor and his former graduate student Hans Klompen, now an associate professor at Ohio State University, suggest that the scabies mite has been with us throughout our evolutionary history, giving humans plenty of time to develop defenses.

When humans began domesticating animals, Sarcoptes scabiei found a whole new realm of potential victims. Domestic dogs, like humans, have played host to the mites long enough to evolve the ability to fight off mange, but when the condition spreads to wild members of the dog family—foxes, wolves and coyotes—watch out.

Malaria and Dengue on the Run

Aedes aegypti. The head is at centre right, with large compound eyes (blue). There are two hairy antennae and a long proboscis (pink) used for penetrating human skin and sucking blood (Image: Eye Of Science / SPL)" title="A coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the head of a female yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. The head is at centre right, with large compound eyes (blue). There are two hairy antennae and a long proboscis (pink) used for penetrating human skin and sucking blood (Image: Eye Of Science / SPL)">

A coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the head of a female yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. The head is at centre right, with large compound eyes (blue). There are two hairy antennae and a long proboscis (pink) used for penetrating human skin and sucking blood (Image: Eye Of Science / SPL)

Female A. aegypti feed almost exclusively on human blood (see image), and unlike most other mosquito species, it thrives in human habitats. Their larvae grow readily in water-filled plant pot plates and discarded plastic containers. Some even claim that it is more adept at avoiding well-aimed swats.

When an A. aegypti mosquito (see image) bites someone who has dengue, the virus begins replicating in the mosquito's gut. From there it spreads to the salivary gland and, 10 to 14 days after being infected, the mosquito's saliva contains enough virus to infect anyone it bites.

The aim is to combat dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease that has reached pandemic proportions in a matter of decades. If the new approach works against dengue fever it should also work against other insect-borne diseases, including the biggest killer, malaria. That possibility has won the team developing this strategy funding through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The potential benefits are huge, but before it can go ahead the team will have to convince people the strategy is safe. If things go wrong, it might make dengue spread even faster.

Still, the situation is already pretty bad. In south-east Asia, long plagued by dengue, outbreaks are becoming bigger, more frequent and longer lasting. In Australia, the Pacific and most of the Americas, where dengue was once rare, the disease is taking hold with a vengeance. An outbreak earlier this year that affected at least 60,000 people in Brazil and Argentina reached Buenos Aires for the first time.