Shcherbakov, D.E. 2022 Crawlers of the Scale Insect Mesophthirus (Homoptera: Xylococcidae) on Feathers in Burmese Amber – Wind Transport or Phoresy on Dinosaurs?. Paleontological Journal 56(3): 338–348.
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Notes: Early birds and their precursors, small feathered dinosaurs, may well have fed on honeydew and the mesophthirines themselves. Scale crawlers are adapted to the wind transport and phoresy on insects and vertebrates, so finding Mesophthirus on feathers is natural.
