110-million-years-old fossil suggests early parasitism in shrimps

Direct evidence of paleo-parasitism in crustaceans is very scarce. Epicaridean isopods are obligatory parasites of crustaceans, including decapods such as crabs, shrimps, and lobsters. Their interaction with hosts is known from fossils as far back as the Jurassic through deformations of the branchial cuticle on the hosts. Their small size and low fossilization potential, outside of those larvae that have been found in amber, makes understanding the group’s evolution challenging. Here, we report the oldest evidence of paleo-parasitism in marine shrimps and an imprint of a putative adult parasite that appears to be an epicaridean isopod. Our results suggest that the parasite–host interaction between epicaridean isopods and marine shrimps started at least 110 million years ago, and the Tethys Sea was a possible dispersal pathway for this lineage of parasites during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, as known for other marine organisms through most of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The oldest fossil records of bopyrid swellings associated with a large number of decapods from the Jurassic in Europe suggest that the Tethys region was a center of epicaridean distribution as a whole. Recent parasitic isopods found on dendrobranchiate shrimps are restricted to the Indo-Pacific and may represent a relict group of a lineage of parasites more widely distributed in the Mesozoic.

Read the paper.

I'm a Mexican Interpreter working mainly with Spanish and English.

I know French but not to the level I'd comfortably use it to interpret.

I studied Brazilian Portuguese in college for a year.

Currently learning German.

I'll be sharing depictions of interpreters, translators and their work as portrayed in movies, series, videogames, etc. Or simply scenes where a character is depicted speaking or being interested in another language.

Writing isn't my forte—hence why I'm not a translator. I've corrected so many typos and grammar mistakes on this post...

introduction post (nov 23rd)

recently i found this secret old blog from when i was 15 years old and, not only i really enjoyed reading about all i was feeling and going through back then, but i thought maybe doing something like that again would help me deal with all the shit that is going on in my life right now. besides, i do hope to have the opportunity to read it all in 5 years.

right now, i'm in college studying computer science and i'm currently in a procrastination cycle that makes me wonder what the problem is, if it is the degree i chose or myself after covid quarantine. i intend to use this blog to get to bottom of it and to blurt it all out while i try to get rid of it, because right now it's really fucking everything, from my exams to my mental health.

so, that's it, i'll basically be using this blog as a diary and post about all the random things i'm feeling and doing. and, i gotta say, i don't really expect anyone to read this besides myself, hence why this is basically a secret blog and why i'll probably switch languages all the time.

i'll be posting about:

⥁ hopefully coding

⥁ superhero comics, because i love those, even though i haven't been reading much lately

⥁ gaming

⥁ whatever i've been watching, either tv shows, movies or animes

⥁ learning languages!!! i really hope i soon get to learning more languages - though i don't see it happening right now since i really have to stop proscrastinating - and there is a chance i'll use this as a writing practice, who knows. by the way, i'll probably make more posts in brazilian portuguese than in english.

⥁ maybe doing my nails and whatever other hobbies i might get into

⥁ and mostly random thoughts and about what's happening in my life

main goals:

⥁ improve my coding knowledge and skills: right now, i basically only know c and c# and in a very basic way, so i want to get more knowledge on those, to learn more programming languages and do projects on them

⥁ catch up with all my curriculum courses and get better grades: when i say i've procrastinating, i mean it in a whole other level. it's like i can't pay attention in class anymore so i always say i'll study when i get home and i never do anything. which is really frustrating since i used to be a pretty good student at school. we gotta fix that.

⥁ get an organized studying schedule and follow it, but also be able to make time for hobbies and social events

⥁ learn other languages

⥁ and my main fun goal at the moment is to read all the batman family comics that interest me from post-crisis age until the current ones in chronological order. i already started it a while ago.

p.s.

if my future self is reading this: get some fancy coffee (and yes, i mean get a caramel frappuccino, i hope i still like those), go somewhere cozy and, well, i hope you enjoy this.