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Fossils of giant fleas discovered in north China
       Updatetime: 2012-03-02 Printer      Text Size:A A A 

News from People‘s Daily on Mar. 02, 2012: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/7745437.html

The fossils, which were discovered in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regionand Liaoning Province, have revealed the existence of giant fleas dating back to themid-Jurassic era, when dinosaurs still lived on Earth, according to a report publishedrecently on the website of the scientific journal Nature. The fossils date back as far as165 million years, making them the oldest known evidence of fleas, according to Huang,who led a study of the fossils. He said the ancient fleas were as long as 2 cm, whilemodern fleas are typically 1 to 3 mm long. "Ancient fleas had stiff bristles, strong clawsand longer blood siphons, allowing them to suck blood from dinosaurs," Huang said. Hesaid ancient fleas did not have the powerful hind legs seen on modern fleas, althoughtheir flat bodies made it easy for them to latch onto a variety of animals.

The fossils, which were discovered in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regionand Liaoning Province, have revealed the existence of giant fleas dating back to themid-Jurassic era, when dinosaurs still lived on Earth, according to a report publishedrecently on the website of the scientific journal Nature. The fossils date back as far as165 million years, making them the oldest known evidence of fleas, according to Huang,who led a study of the fossils. He said the ancient fleas were as long as 2 cm, whilemodern fleas are typically 1 to 3 mm long. "Ancient fleas had stiff bristles, strong clawsand longer blood siphons, allowing them to suck blood from dinosaurs," Huang said. Hesaid ancient fleas did not have the powerful hind legs seen on modern fleas, althoughtheir flat bodies made it easy for them to latch onto a variety of animals.

The fossils, which were discovered in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regionand Liaoning Province, have revealed the existence of giant fleas dating back to themid-Jurassic era, when dinosaurs still lived on Earth, according to a report publishedrecently on the website of the scientific journal Nature. The fossils date back as far as165 million years, making them the oldest known evidence of fleas, according to Huang,who led a study of the fossils. He said the ancient fleas were as long as 2 cm, whilemodern fleas are typically 1 to 3 mm long. "Ancient fleas had stiff bristles, strong clawsand longer blood siphons, allowing them to suck blood from dinosaurs," Huang said. Hesaid ancient fleas did not have the powerful hind legs seen on modern fleas, althoughtheir flat bodies made it easy for them to latch onto a variety of animals.

 
Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology Chinese Academy of Sciences
No.39 East Beijing Road ,Nanjing 210008, CHINA Phone: 0086-25-83282105 Fax: 0086-25-83357026 Email: ngb@nigpas.ac.cn