Dino Fleas

Next time you hop in your time machine and go on vacation in dinosaur times, be careful.  You already know to look out for Velociraptors and to stay away from the Tyrannosaurus rex, but even more frightening than these carnivores are the fleas dinosaurs carried.

Time traveler goes on dinosaur safari, gets bitten by enormous flea.

According to the Associated Press, fossilized fleas have been found in China.  They date back to about 165 million years ago, which puts them somewhere in the Jurassic Period.  They’re described as growing to at least an inch long, and their proboscis (the straw-like thing they use to suck blood) is out of proportion to their already large bodies.

Oh, and that proboscis has serrated edges too.  I guess it’s not easy biting through the thick hide of an Apatosaurus.

With that it mind, I expect Jurassic era fleas will find human skin much easier to penetrate.  You’ve been warned.  Bring lots of bug spray and a really, really big fly swatter in your time machine.