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Chelicerates as Parasites

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The Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism

Part of the book series: Topics in Geobiology ((TGBI,volume 49))

Abstract

Among Chelicerata, larval instars of sea spiders (Pycnogonida) can be parasitic. The oldest putative sea spider from the Cambrian ‘Orsten’ is immature and resembles comparable instars of modern species with a parasitic phase to their life cycle. All other parasitic chelicerates are mites, with several examples in both the Acariformes and Parasitiformes clades. Fossils revealing parasitic behaviour, or belonging to purely parasitic clades, come from various amber sources from the mid-Cretaceous onwards. From Acariformes there are records of Parasitengona, Myobiidae, Pterygosomatoidea, Resinacaridae, Acarophenacidae, Pyemotidae and Apotomelidae. Parasitiformes is represented by several ticks (Ixodida) and potentially Laelapidae from the Mesostigmata. Parasitism appears to have evolved independently within mites on several occasions. Possible transitions to this lifestyle via nest associations and/or phoresy are discussed. Arachnids as victims of parasites include amber records of nematode worms (Mermithidae), erythraeid mites (Erythraeidae), mantid flies (Neuroptera: Mantispidae), ichneumon wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) and spider flies (Diptera: Acroceridae).

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Acknowledgements

I thank Kenneth de Baets for inviting this contribution and Lidia Chitimia-Dobler, Enrique Peñalver, David Penney, Michael Ohl, George Poinar Jr., Ekaterina Sidochuk, Dieter Waloszek and Michael Zwanzig for providing images of specimens. Kenneth de Baets, an anonymous reviewer and Ekaterina Sidochuk provided valuable comments on the typescript. Ekaterina died in January 2019, and I would like to dedicate this work to her memory for her extensive contributions to our understanding of fossil mites.

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  1. Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany

    Jason A. Dunlop

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  1. GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Kenneth De Baets

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    John Warren Huntley

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Dunlop, J.A. (2021). Chelicerates as Parasites. In: De Baets, K., Huntley, J.W. (eds) The Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism. Topics in Geobiology, vol 49. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42484-8_9

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