Parasites of Fossil Vertebrates: What We Know and What Can We Expect from the Fossil Record?

Parasites are ubiquitous in extant ecosystems and vertebrate animals often harbour rich parasite communities. However, the geological record of parasites is extremely sparse as their very nature means they are rarely fossilised. The few fossil parasites which have been described have provided interesting insights into the evolution of various parasite taxa, and the development of technology such as high-resolution computed tomography has made detecting signs of parasitism in the fossil record more practical. In this chapter, I will provide an overview of vertebrate-infecting macroparasites which have been described from fossils, and compare those fossil forms with their extant counterparts. I will also discuss what those fossils can tell us about the evolution of parasitism and the ecology of their hosts, the type of parasite fossils which may be associated with fossil vertebrates, and suggest some future research directions which combine aspects of palaeontology, ecology, and parasitology.