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Comment
. 2018 Feb 13;115(7):1411-1413.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1722598115.

Unique parasite aDNA in moa coprolites from New Zealand suggests mass parasite extinctions followed human-induced megafauna extinctions

Kevin D Lafferty  1 , Skylar R Hopkins  2
Affiliations
Comment

Unique parasite aDNA in moa coprolites from New Zealand suggests mass parasite extinctions followed human-induced megafauna extinctions

Kevin D Lafferty et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
The ancient Zealandia food web was much different from that in present-day New Zealand, and it included several ecological interactions that Boast et al. (1) revealed by sequencing aDNA from moa coprolites. For instance, the upland moa (M. didiformis) ate moss, ferns, mycorrhizal fungi that require animal-assisted dispersal, and aquatic vegetation. The upland moa also accidentally ate (and was infected by) aquatic trematode larvae (Notocotylidae) and apicomplexan parasites (Eimeriidae), which still exist in extant kiwi. Other parasites that once infected moas, like several heterakoid nematode species, have not been seen since the moa extinctions. Dashed arrows indicate interactions lost since the moa extinctions.
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References

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