9224926 Cano This SGER (Small Grant for Exploratory Research) project will attempt to obtain dinosaur DNA from the gut contents of swollen and apparently engorged Ceratopogonidae (biting midges) entombed in amber from two Cretaceous sites in Canada: Grassy Lake, Alberta and Cedar Lake, Manitoba These midges have mouthparts resembling those of extant midges that are adapted for feeding on large animals. The PI is reasoning that the large animals of the Cretaceous Period were dinosaurs and expecting to be able to, thus, obtain dinosaur blood/DNA. DNA sequences from slow evolving nuclear and mitochondrial genes will be obtained and compared with those of representatives of extant amniotes supplied by co PI Hedges, in order to draw phylogenetic conclusions. This may be the only way that genetic information from this major, extinct amniote group will ever be obtained. If successful, it could be of considerable importance in establishing the phylogenetic relationship of the dinosaurs to the rest of the amniotes. %%% Gut contents, which are assumed to be blood from dinosaurs, will be extracted from biting midges preserved in amber. These midges in amber are from the Cretaceous Period and were collected at two lake related sites in Canada. The Principal Investigator will sequence DNA from the extracted gut contents and compare it with DNA from living reptiles, birds and mammals. This is an exciting and novel approach to le arning something about the relationships of the dinosaurs to these other groups. ***
