What Bugged the Dinosaurs? : Insects, Disease, and Death in the Cretaceous

Author/Creator:

Poinar, George, author

Publication/Creation:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2010]

Resource Type:

Book

Edition:

Course Book

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

What Bugged the Dinosaurs? : Insects, Disease, and Death in the Cretaceous / Roberta Poinar, George Poinar

Related/Included Titles:

Frontmatter --
Contents --
Preface --
Acknowledgments --
Introduction --
1. Fossils: A Time Capsule --
2. The Cretaceous: A Time of Change --
3. Herbivory --
4. Dinosaurs Competing with Insects --
5. Did Dinosaurs or Insects "Invent" Flowering Plants? --
6. Pollination --
7. Blights and Diseases of Cretaceous Plants --
8. The Cretaceous: Age of Chimeras and Other Oddities --
9. Sanitary Engineers of the Cretaceous --
10. The Case for Entomophagy among Dinosaurs --
11. Gorging on Dinosaurs --
12. Biting Midges --
13. Sand Flies --
14. Mosquitoes --
15. Blackflies --
16. Horseflies and Deerflies --
17. Fleas and Lice --
18. Ticks and Mites --
19. Parasitic Worms --
20. The Discovery of Cretaceous Diseases --
21. Diseases and the Evolution of Pathogens --
22. Insects: The Ultimate Survivors --
23. Extinctions and the K/T Boundary --
Appendix A: Cretaceous Hexapoda --
Appendix B: Key Factors Contributing to the Survival of Terrestrial Animals --
Appendix C: Problems with Evaluating the Fossil Record and Extinctions --
References --
Index

Related Names

Additional Author/Creators:

Poinar, Roberta, author

Subjects/Genre

Subjects:

Amber fossils
Plants, Fossil--Diseases
Plants, Fossil--Parasites
Dinosaurs--Diseases
Dinosaurs--Parasites
Insects, Fossil--Ecology
Insects, Fossil
Paleoecology--Cretaceous
Paleontology--Cretaceous

Description/Summary

Table of Contents:

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Fossils: A Time Capsule -- 2. The Cretaceous: A Time of Change -- 3. Herbivory -- 4. Dinosaurs Competing with Insects -- 5. Did Dinosaurs or Insects "Invent" Flowering Plants? -- 6. Pollination -- 7. Blights and Diseases of Cretaceous Plants -- 8. The Cretaceous: Age of Chimeras and Other Oddities -- 9. Sanitary Engineers of the Cretaceous -- 10. The Case for Entomophagy among Dinosaurs -- 11. Gorging on Dinosaurs -- 12. Biting Midges -- 13. Sand Flies -- 14. Mosquitoes -- 15. Blackflies -- 16. Horseflies and Deerflies -- 17. Fleas and Lice -- 18. Ticks and Mites -- 19. Parasitic Worms -- 20. The Discovery of Cretaceous Diseases -- 21. Diseases and the Evolution of Pathogens -- 22. Insects: The Ultimate Survivors -- 23. Extinctions and the K/T Boundary -- Appendix A: Cretaceous Hexapoda -- Appendix B: Key Factors Contributing to the Survival of Terrestrial Animals -- Appendix C: Problems with Evaluating the Fossil Record and Extinctions -- References -- Index

Summary:

Millions of years ago in the Cretaceous period, the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex--with its dagger-like teeth for tearing its prey to ribbons--was undoubtedly the fiercest carnivore to roam the Earth. Yet as What Bugged the Dinosaurs? reveals, T. rex was not the only killer. George and Roberta Poinar show how insects--from biting sand flies to disease-causing parasites--dominated life on the planet and played a significant role in the life and death of the dinosaurs. The Poinars bring the age of the dinosaurs marvelously to life. Analyzing exotic insects fossilized in Cretaceous amber at three major deposits in Lebanon, Burma, and Canada, they reconstruct the complex ecology of a hostile prehistoric world inhabited by voracious swarms of insects. The Poinars draw upon tantalizing new evidence from their amazing discoveries of disease-producing vertebrate pathogens in Cretaceous blood-sucking flies, as well as intestinal worms and protozoa found in fossilized dinosaur excrement, to provide a unique view of how insects infected with malaria, leishmania, and other pathogens, together with intestinal parasites, could have devastated dinosaur populations. A scientific adventure story from the authors whose research inspired Jurassic Park, What Bugged the Dinosaurs?? offers compelling evidence of how insects directly and indirectly contributed to the dinosaurs' demise.

Language:

English

Language Note:

English

Physical Type/Description:

1 online resource (279 p.)

General Note:

Description based upon print version of record.

Additional Physical Form:

Issued also in print.

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

9936950564002486

ISBN:

1-282-53166-2
9786612531668
1-4008-3569-0

OCLC Number:

593341101
979779784

Other Identifiers:

doi: 10.1515/9781400835690