According to a new study, dinosaurs may have been hastened along the road to extinction by—of all things—insects.
Researchers at Oregon State University studied various pathogens in the guts of insects preserved in amber, as well as fossilized dinosaur feces (known as coprolites) containing primitive nematodes and protozoa. The evidence suggests that the warm, muggy conditions of the late Jurassic era may have favored the spread of disease via insect bites—and that the dinosaur population may have been decimated by epidemics.
Could primitive mosquitoes have been responsible, all by themselves, for the disappearance of T. Rex? Most scientists say this is unlikely, but it’s possible that pesky, germ-ridden bugs killed off dinos already weakened by unseasonable cold and lack of food (in the aftermath of the K/T meteorite impact).
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