Re: Mosquitoes

[nomen <darwincr@laplaza.org>]

At 07:54 PM 4/21/97 -0700, Betty Cunningham wrote:

>why does Hammond have to restrict himself to mosquitoes in amber?  
>What about ticks, leeches, maggots, fleas, bloodflies, and lice?
>I resqued a red-tailed hawk today that had been hit by a car (long
>story-bird's probably going to be re-released tomorrow) and MAN! that
>thing was crawling with bird-lice.  If dinosaurs had folds of skin that
>could hide ticks or lice, or prickly/bristly somethings that small
>crawling insects could take refuge in, why not have body vermin that
>occasionally fell off into sap while feeding on dinos?
>Birds certainly have more than their fair share of vermin.
>Do modern veranid lizards bear body vermin?  Does anyone know?

I have seen ticks firmly affixed to tegu monitors and East African
water-monitors.  Captive tegus are also subject to attack by mites.  

John C. McLoughlin