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Did Bug Bites Do in Dinos?

Disease-carrying insects may have contributed to dinosaur extinction

By Lucas Laursen, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 9, 2008 1:07 PM CST

(Newser) – Disease-carrying insects may have contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago, entomologists write in a new book. Scientists found malaria and other parasitic pathogens in insects preserved in amber, and the same parasites were found in fossilized dinosaur waste, the Guardian reports. New plants, pollinated by insects, forced the herbivores to adapt their diets or starve, the book also suggests.

Disease, rather than a meteorite, could better explain why dinosaurs didn’t die out suddenly. "We can't say for certain that insects are the smoking gun, but we believe they were an extremely significant force in the decline of the dinosaurs," one author said. The theory of a catastrophic or geologic event fails to account for a process that took "a very, very long time, perhaps millions of years."

[Images (4)]

[Videos (2)]

A man holds a precious gem with a fossilized insect in it during an exhibition of Pakistan's minerals and gems in south western city Quetta, 22 May 2002. Insects preserved in amber have given scientists... (Associated Press)

A new book suggests that an evolutionary explosion of insect diversity may have played an instrumental part in the extinction of the dinosaurs. (Index Open)

"We can't say for certain that insects are the smoking gun," said one of the book's co-authors, "but we believe they were an extremely significant force in the decline of the dinosaurs." (Wikimedia Commons)

Mounted skeletons of Tyrannosaurus (left) and Apatosaurus (right) are displayed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. (Public Domain)

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Did Bug Bites Do in Dinos?