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YIKES

Giant Jurassic Fleas Found in China

Almost an inch in length.

cheats/2012/03/01/giant-jurassic-fleas-found-in-china/giant-flea-fossils-discovered-china-cheat_sbbf7r

D. Huang et al / Nature

At least Fido doesn’t have to contend with these monster bugs. Newly found fossils of fleas, 165 million years old, show that the critters were almost an inch in length and had blood-sucking mouthpieces that scientists say were used to penetrate tough hides. T. Rex didn’t need a gigantic flea collar, though. The only prey for these ferocious fleas were small mammals similar to the shrew, scientists say, leading the researchers to speculate that they may have fed on feathered dinosaurs and not mammals.

Read it at Telegraph

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