Fleas are parasitic scorpionflies

@article{Tihelka2020FleasAP,
  title={Fleas are parasitic scorpionflies},
  author={Erik Tihelka and Mattia Giacomelli and Diying Huang and Davide Pisani and Philip C. J. Donoghue and Chenyang Cai},
  journal={Palaeoentomology},
  year={2020}
}
Fleas (Siphonaptera) are medically important blood-feeding insects responsible for spreading pathogens such as plague, murine typhus, and myxomatosis. The peculiar morphology of fleas resulting from their specialised ectoparasitic lifestyle has meant that the phylogenetic position of this diverse and medically important group has remained one of the most persistent problems in insect evolution. Here we test competing hypotheses on the contentious evolutionary relationships of fleas andā€¦Ā 
View via Publisher
mapress.com
8 Citations
Background Citations
2

Figures and Tables from this paper

8 Citations

Mitochondrial phylogenomics provides insights into the taxonomy and phylogeny of fleas
TLDR
The phylogenetic tree shows that fleas are monophyletic and strongly support an order-level objective and the mt genomes of P. irritans and C. canis are different, and shows a sister relationship between the order Siphonaptera and orders Diptera and Mecoptera and Neuroptera.
The evolution of insect biodiversity
Revision of the long-proboscid scorpionflies, Lichnomesopsyche Ren, Labandeira, and Shih, 2010
TLDR
This discovery indicates that the male genitalia are the major critical structures for species-level classification of the peculiar genus Lichnomesopsyche, and can be used for defining and recognizing the three species.
Morphological phylogeny of Panorpidae (Mecoptera: Panorpoidea)
TLDR
The phylogenetic trees of Panorpidae are overall consistent with those reconstructed in the molecular analyses, and support the monophyly of two major clades and all the extant genera except Panorpa and Neopanorpa, which may need further splitting.
Compositional phylogenomic modelling resolves the ā€˜Zoraptera problemā€™: Zoraptera are sister to all other polyneopteran insects
TLDR
A Devonian origin of winged insects and Polyneoptera is recovered, suggesting that these groups coincided with the rise of arborescence during the diversification of early terrestrial plants, fungi, and animals.
Hexapoda Yearbook (Arthropoda: Mandibulata: Pancrustacea) Brazil 2020: the first annual production survey of new Brazilian species
TLDR
There are inequalities in the production of described species regarding the regions of Brazil, with Southeast and South leading and the top 10 institutions regarding productions of new species have four in the Southeast, two at South and with one at North Region being the outlier of this pattern.
The Gender Gap in Brazilian Entomology: an Analysis of the Academic Scenario
TLDR
A pervasive gender bias is detected in which the scissor-shaped curve is the most representative effect of it: women were the majority in lower degree stages but the minority in higher degree stages (permanent positions and positions of prestige and power).
Sex, Bugs and Rock ā€˜nā€™ Roll: Insects in Music Videos
TLDR
The types of insects shown, the themes represented and the success of insect music videos seem to indicate that human attitudes toward insects are trending toward more positive values, especially relative to those in early horror films, which were exclusively designed to convey horror.

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 87 REFERENCES
A molecular phylogeny of fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera): origins and host associations
TLDR
This analysis supports Tungidae as the most basal flea lineage, sister group to the remainder of the extant fleas, and the first formal analysis of flea relationships based on a molecular matrix of four loci for 128 flea taxa from around the world.
Diverse transitional giant fleas from the Mesozoic era of China
TLDR
Giant forms from the Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods of China exhibit many defining features of fleas but retain primitive traits such as non-jumping hindlegs, implying that these fleas may be rooted among the pollinating ā€˜long siphonateā€™ scorpionflies of the Mesozoic.
Mesozoic giant fleas from northeastern China (Siphonaptera): Taxonomy and implications for palaeodiversity
TLDR
The basal morphological disparities of Siphonaptera in the Mesozoic are evidenced by the occurrence of at least three distinct groups (pseudopulicids, tarwiniids, and saurophthirids).
Adaptations of fleas (Siphonaptera) to parasitism
TLDR
The leading role of structures of the frontal and nototrochanteral complexes in the adaptive evolution of Siphonaptera is substantiated and peculiarities of the pulicoid, ischnopsylloid, palaeopsylloids, and generalized morphological types are analyzed together with examples of narrow morphological specializations.
Phylogeny of endopterygote insects, the most successful lineage of living organisms
The monophyly of the Endopterygota is supported primarily by the specialized larva without external wing buds and with degradable eyes, as well as by the quiescence of the last immature (pupal)ā€¦
Mouthpart homologies and life habits of Mesozoic long-proboscid scorpionflies
TLDR
The results suggest that the long-proboscid condition has most likely evolved once in Mesopsychoidea, independently from fleas, and further reveal the variety and complexity of mid-Cretaceous pollinating insects.
Mecoptera: Scorpionflies, Hangingflies
The larval abdomen of the enigmatic Nannochoristidae (Mecoptera, Insecta).
A New Spiralian Phylogeny Places the Enigmatic Arrow Worms among Gnathiferans
Phylogenomics and the evolution of hemipteroid insects
TLDR
The results indicated that thrips (Thysanoptera) are the closest living relatives of true bugs and allies (Hemiptera) and that hemipteroid insects started diversifying before the Carboniferous period, over 365 million years ago.
...
...