A recent study of fossils found that ticks existed in the days of dinosaurs.
In Myanmar, ticks were found in amber fossils found with dinosaur feathers. About 100 million years ago, this parasite sucked blood on a dinosaur body, feathered.
This amber fossil is the first evidence that ticks lived in the age of dinosaurs. The fossil is presumed to have been formed in the Cretaceous period.
Enrique Penaliber, of the Spanish Geological Survey (IGME), said: "Mites are blood-sucking and parasitic creatures that have a profound impact on the health of humans, livestock, pets and wildlife. But until now, there has been little evidence that ticks existed in ancient times. "
"When this amber fossil was made, there were various theropod dinosaurs and similar dinosaurs that could fly," said Ricardo Fuerte, a researcher at the Natural History Museum at Oxford University.
But the researchers did not know exactly which dinosaur feathers the amber fossil feathers were. Because of the short life span of DNA, research was impossible.
The ancient mite found in amber fossils is the terrible mite of Dino Croton de la Culley, also known as Count Dracula.
This tick belongs to a group of endemic ticks and when it sucks blood it swells eight times more than usual.
