Entomologia nell'Ambra preistorica

Decades-old amber collection offers new views of a 


lost world 



Scientists are searching through a massive collection of 20-million-year-old amber found in the Dominican Republic more than 50 years ago, and the effort is yielding fresh insights into ancient tropical insects and the world they inhabited. 

Sir David Attenborough narrates and appears in a video about the digital curation of a  20-million-year-old amber collection at the Illinois Natural History Survey at Illinois 

[Credit: Kaitlin and Kevin Southworth] 

When the collection is fully curated, a task that will take many years, it will be the largest unbiased Dominican amber collection in the world, the researchers report. 
Perhaps the most striking discovery thus far is that of a pygmy locust, a tiny grasshopper the size of a rose thorn that lived 18- to 20-million years ago and fed on moss, algae and fungi. 
The specimen is remarkable because it represents an intermediate stage of evolution in the life of its subfamily of locusts (known as the Cladonotinae). 
The most ancient representatives of this group had wings, while modern counterparts do not. 
The newly discovered locust has what appear to be vestigial wings — remnant structures that had already lost their primary function. "Grasshoppers are very rare in amber and this specimen is extraordinarily well-preserved," said Sam Heads, a paleontologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey, a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois. 

Scientists have found a fossilized pygmy locust that represents an intermediate stage  in the evolution of this group of insects [Credit: Sam Heads] 

Heads, laboratory technician Jared Thomas and study co-author Yinan Wang found the new specimen a few months after the start of their project to screen more than 160 pounds of Dominican amber collected in the late 1950s by former INHS entomologist Milton Sanderson. 
Sanderson described several specimens from the collection in a paper in Science in 1960, a report that inspired a generation of scientists to seek out and study Dominican amber, Heads said. 
The bulk of the Sanderson amber collection remained in storage, however, until Heads uncovered it in 2010. Heads has named the new pygmy locust Electrotettix attenboroughi, the genus name a combination of electrum (Latin from Greek, meaning "amber") and tettix (Greek, meaning "grasshopper"). 
The species is named for Sir David Attenborough, a British naturalist and filmmaker (not to be confused with Richard Attenborough, David's actor brother who appeared in the movie "Jurassic Park"). 
"Sir David has a personal interest in amber, and also he was one of my childhood heroes and still is one of my heroes and so I decided to name the species in his honor -- with his permission of course," Heads said. (Attenborough narrates and appears in a new video about the Sanderson collection and the specimen that bears his name.) 

The process of screening the amber is slow and painstaking. Much of the amber is clouded with oxidation, and the researchers must carefully cut and polish "windows" in it to get a good look at what's inside. 

In addition to the pygmy locust, Heads and his colleagues have found mating flies, stingless bees, gall midges, Azteca ants, wasps, bark beetles, mites, spiders, plant parts and even a mammal hair. 
The pygmy locust was found in a fragment that also contained wasps, ants, midges, plant remnants and fungi. 
Such associations are rich in information, Heads said, offering clues about the creatures' physiological needs and the nature of their habitat. 
"Fossil insects can provide lots of insight into the evolution of specific traits and behaviors, and they also tell us about the history of the time period," Heads said. "They're a tremendous resource for understanding the ancient world, ancient ecosystems and the ancient climate - better even, perhaps, than dinosaur bones." The discovery is reported in the journal ZooKeys. 

Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [July 30, 2014]

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Lyme: 40 anni fa?

Informazioni mediche su Lyme: (saltare se non 

interessa)

- La 'Malattia di Lyme' consiste in una patologia batterica, il cui primo sintomo in genere è un eritema cutaneo (noto come eritema cronico migrante, o ECM) di piccole dimensioni. Nel giro di qualche giorno o settimana la caratteristica macchia si estende fino a diventare un eritema circolare, triangolare o ovale che può avere le dimensioni di una moneta oppure può diffondersi su tutto il dorso.
L'eritema compare in un numero di casi stimato tra l'80% e il 90% delle persone infettate.
altri sintomi sono: febbre, mal di testa, rigidità del collo, dolori muscolari e spossatezza. Se non vengono curate in tempo, oltre metà delle vittime finiscono per accusare dolori e gonfiore alle articolazioni, che durano anche mesi. Il secondo stadio della malattia prevede complicanze neurologiche e dolori muscolari e ossei; sono possibili anche disturbi cardiaci che consistono in palpitazioni, blocco atrioventricolare e in alcuni casi può essere indispensabile uno stimolatore cardiaco. Fino al 20 per cento dei pazienti che non ricevono cure sviluppano un'artrite cronica che provoca difficoltà a camminare. Altri danni che può provocare, oltre che alle articolazioni, sono a carico del cuore, del sistema nervoso centrale.
- I luoghi nei quali è più facile contrarla sono le zone boscose e ricche di cervi, dal momento che queste rappresentano l'habitat ideale per le zecche.

- La causa della malattia di Lyme è un batterio spiraliforme (Borrelia) che infesta le zecche, le quali possono trasmetterlo all'uomo e agli animali.
In Europa la malattia è comune inAustria, Slovenia, Repubblica Ceca,, Slovacchia. In Italia la si trova soprattutto nel Carso, nel Trentino, nella Liguria.
- La terapia consigliata è antibiotica (doxiciclina, amoxicillina, cefuroxime) per tre settimane, con antibiotici efficaci anche sulla Rickettsiosi (un'altra malattia che può essere trasmessa dalle zecche).

- Il nome deriva dalla cittadina del Connecticut nella quale si ebbe la prima epidemia, nel 1975.

Cose da fare nel caso si sia punti da una zecca (estrazione):
(saltare se non interessa)

• Non applicare assolutamente olio, petrolio, vaselina, trielina, benzina, ammoniaca, alcol, acetone o acidi, sostanze che, benché purtroppo spesso utilizzate, inducono un riflesso di rigurgito da parte della zecca con aumento esponenziale del rischio d'infezione.
• Afferrare la zecca nel punto più vicino possibile alla cute (esistono pinzette specifiche in farmacia, ma anche delle comuni pinzette, possibilmente a punta sottile, possono andare bene. Esistono in commercio nei negozi specializzati delle penne con un laccio alla punta molto efficaci) per evitare la frattura dell'apparato boccale, avendo cura di non afferrarla per il corpo al fine di evitare il cosiddetto "effetto siringa" o di spezzare il parassita.
• Estrarre il parassita, avendo cura di non rompere il microscopico rostro della zecca che potrebbe restare ritenuto nella cute.
• Se questo avviene si potrà notare un puntino nero al centro della puntura; si dovrà quindi cercare di estrarlo usando la punta di un ago da siringa sterile e, nel caso non si riuscisse a portare a buon fine da soli questa operazione, sarà necessario contattare un medico.
• Dopo l'estrazione, disinfettare il punto in cui la zecca si era attaccata cercando di evitare disinfettanti colorati (per non rendere più difficoltosa l'individuazione di un eventuale Eritema Migrante (EM)), quindi accertarsi di uccidere il parassita.
• Controllare tutti i giorni per i successivi 30-40 giorni se si forma un alone anuliforme attorno alla puntura, detto appunto eritema migrante (caratteristico della malattia di Lyme e di altre possibili patologie) e verificare la comparsa di sintomi quali una cefalea non abituale, un'artrite acuta, una sintomatologia neurologica od un malessere simil influenzale non altrimenti spiegato; in caso compaia uno dei suddetti sintomi si provveda a contattare il medico per poter così instaurare in tempo utile un adeguato trattamento. La formazione di una crosticina rossa pruriginosa è invece decorso normale della puntura.

Le Zecche:
(saltare se non interessa)

Gli Ixodida sono un sottordine di acari che comprende tre famiglie di zecche. Le due principali sono: Ixodidae o "zecche dure" e Argasidae o "zecche molli". La terza famiglia che comprende una sola specie, è quella delle Nuttalleillidae.
Sono parassiti ematofagi di molti animali e anche dell'uomo, e possono essere pericolosi agenti di trasmissione di numerose malattie infettive.


Il fatto:

- Lyme è stata 'scoperta' (diagnosticata per la prima volta) circa 40 anni fa. 

- Ma il suo agente patogeno esiste da 15 milioni di anni (vedi articolo, sotto).



La Conclusione:


Questo significa che innumerevoli volte - prima del 1975 -  i sintomi sono stati male interpretati e attribuiti ad altro, la malattia non è stata diagnosticata e conseguentemente, non è stata curata.  

Amber discovery indicates Lyme disease is older than 

human race

 Lyme disease is a stealthy, often misdiagnosed disease that was only recognized about 40 years ago, but new discoveries of ticks fossilized in amber show that the bacteria which cause it may have been lurking around for 15 million years -- long before any humans walked on Earth. 

This tick trapped in ancient amber from the Dominican Republic can carry the type  of bacteria that causes lyme disease 

[Credit: George Poinar, Jr.,  courtesy of Oregon State University] 

The findings were made by researchers from Oregon State University, who studied 15-20 million-year-old amber from the Dominican Republic that offer the oldest fossil evidence ever found of Borrelia, a type of spirochete-like bacteria that to this day causes Lyme disease. They were published in the journal Historical Biology. In a related study, published in Cretaceous Research, OSU scientists announced the first fossil record of Rickettsial-like cells, a bacteria that can cause various types of spotted fever. Those fossils from Myanmar were found in ticks about 100 million years old. As summer arrives and millions of people head for the outdoors, it's worth considering that these tick-borne diseases may be far more common than has been historically appreciated, and they've been around for a long, long time. "Ticks and the bacteria they carry are very opportunistic," said George Poinar, Jr., a professor emeritus in the Department of Integrative Biology of the OSU College of Science, and one of the world's leading experts on plant and animal life forms found preserved in amber. "They are very efficient at maintaining populations of microbes in their tissues, and can infect mammals, birds, reptiles and other animals. 

This group of spirochetes, the type that cause lyme disease, were  identified in a tick preserved in amber 

[Credit: George Poinar, Jr.,  courtesy of Oregon State University] 

"In the United States, Europe and Asia, ticks are a more important insect vector of disease than mosquitos," Poinar said. "They can carry bacteria that cause a wide range of diseases, affect many different animal species, and often are not even understood or recognized by doctors. "It's likely that many ailments in human history for which doctors had no explanation have been caused by tick-borne disease." 
Lyme disease is a perfect example. It can cause problems with joints, the heart and central nervous system, but researchers didn't even know it existed until 1975. If recognized early and treated with antibiotics, it can be cured. But it's often mistaken for other health conditions. And surging deer populations in many areas are causing a rapid increase in Lyme disease -- the confirmed and probable cases of Lyme disease in Nova Scotia nearly tripled in 2013 over the previous year. The new research shows these problems with tick-borne disease have been around for millions of years. 

This tick, preserved in amber about 100 million years old, offers the first-ever fossil  record of Rickettsia-like cells, a type of bacteria that still causes various types of spotted fever  

[Credit: George Poinar, Jr., courtesy of Oregon State University] 

Bacteria are an ancient group that date back about 3.6 billion years, almost as old as the planet itself. As soft-bodied organisms they are rarely preserved in the fossil record, but an exception is amber, which begins as a free-flowing tree sap that traps and preserves material in exquisite detail as it slowly turns into a semi-precious mineral. A series of four ticks from Dominican amber were analyzed in this study, revealing a large population of spirochete-like cells that most closely resemble those of the present-day Borrelia species. In a separate report, Poinar found cells that resemble Rickettsia bacteria, the cause of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and related illnesses. This is the oldest fossil evidence of ticks associated with such bacteria. In 30 years of studying diseases revealed in the fossil record, Poinar has documented the ancient presence of such diseases as malaria, leishmania, and others. Evidence suggests that dinosaurs could have been infected with Rickettsial pathogens. Humans have probably been getting diseases, including Lyme disease, from tick-borne bacteria as long as there have been humans, Poinar said. The oldest documented case is the Tyrolean iceman, a 5,300-year-old mummy found in a glacier in the Italian Alps. "Before he was frozen in the glacier, the iceman was probably already in misery from Lyme disease," Poinar said. "He had a lot of health problems and was really a mess." 

Source: Oregon State University 

[May 29, 2014]



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