Insects, not meteor, killed dinosaurs: study

Dinosaurs were killed off by disease-ridden insects and changing plant life rather than a cataclysmic single event, a new book claims.

The US-based study claims mosquitoes, ticks and termites forced the dinosaurs into extinction between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods 65 million years ago.

According to the most widely accepted theories, animal life was killed off either by a massive meteor that hurtled into the sea near Mexico, or large volcanic eruptions in India which triggered extreme climate change.

But Oregon State University's George and Roberta Poinar say that does not explain why the dinosaurs died off over a long period — which would be unlikely in both cases.

"By themselves, such events do not explain a process that in reality took a very, very long time, perhaps millions of years," George Poinar said in a statement.

"Insects and diseases do provide that explanation."

He argues that fatal diseases including leishmaniasis and malaria, which have been extracted by scientists from the bodies of ancient insects, could hold the clue to the extinction of dinosaurs.

These diseases could have found their way into the bloodstream of the prehistoric mammals through a simple bite.

Hungry insect intruders would also have competed for food with herbivorous dinosaurs.

As the herbivorous animals began to die out, their predators in turn would have no way of surviving.

These factors "could all have provided a lingering, debilitating condition that dinosaurs were ultimately unable to overcome", the authors wrote.

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