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92-483: The Acariformes , also known as the Actinotrichida , are the more diverse of the two superorders of mites . Over 32,000 described species are found in 351 families , with an estimated total of 440,000 to 929,000 species, including undescribed species . The Acariformes can be divided into two main clades – Sarcoptiformes and Trombidiformes . In addition, a paraphyletic group containing primitive forms,
184-425: A cephalothorax (with no separate head) or prosoma, and an opisthosoma or abdomen. Segmentation has almost entirely been lost and the prosoma and opisthosoma are fused, only the positioning of the limbs indicating the location of the segments. At the front of the body is the gnathosoma or capitulum. This is not a head and does not contain the eyes or the brain, but is a retractable feeding apparatus consisting of
276-438: A holoparasite such as Cuscuta derives all of its nutrients from another plant. Parasitic plants make up about one per cent of angiosperms and are in almost every biome in the world. All these plants have modified roots, haustoria , which penetrate the host plants, connecting them to the conductive system—either the xylem , the phloem , or both. This provides them with the ability to extract water and nutrients from
368-408: A prion disease of sheep. The mite Varroa destructor is a serious pest of honey bees , contributing to colony collapse disorder in commercial hives . This organism is an obligate external parasite, able to reproduce only in bee colonies. It directly weakens its host by sucking up the bee's fat, and can spread RNA viruses including deformed wing virus . Heavy infestation causes the death of
460-511: A cause of gastroenteritis , is spread by the fecal–oral route from animals, or by eating insufficiently cooked poultry , or by contaminated water. Haemophilus influenzae , an agent of bacterial meningitis and respiratory tract infections such as influenza and bronchitis , is transmitted by droplet contact. Treponema pallidum , the cause of syphilis , is spread by sexual activity . Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites, characterised by extremely limited biological function, to
552-583: A colony, generally over the winter. Since 2006, more than 10 million beehives have been lost. Various mites prey on other invertebrates and can be used to control their populations. Phytoseiidae , especially members of Amblyseius , Metaseiulus , and Phytoseiulus , are used to control pests such as spider mites. Among the Laelapidae , Gaeolaelaps aculeifer and Stratiolaelaps scimitus are used to control fungus gnats , poultry red mites and various soil pests. Mites were first observed under
644-627: A faster rate than their hosts. Classic examples include interactions between vertebrate hosts and tapeworms , flukes , and those between the malaria-causing Plasmodium species, and fleas . Parasites reduce host fitness by general or specialised pathology , that ranges from parasitic castration to modification of host behaviour . Parasites increase their own fitness by exploiting hosts for resources necessary for their survival, in particular by feeding on them and by using intermediate (secondary) hosts to assist in their transmission from one definitive (primary) host to another. Although parasitism
736-522: A few phylogenomic studies have found strong support for monophyly of Acari and a sister relationship between Acariformes and Parasitiformes, although this finding has been questioned, with other studies suggesting that this likely represents a long branch attraction artefact. Mites are tiny members of the class Arachnida ; most are in the size range 250 to 750 μm (0.01 to 0.03 in) but some are larger and some are no bigger than 100 μm (0.004 in) as adults. The body plan has two regions ,
828-595: A hormone or by diverting nutrients. For example, the trematode Zoogonus lasius , whose sporocysts lack mouths, castrates the intertidal marine snail Tritia obsoleta chemically, developing in its gonad and killing its reproductive cells. Directly transmitted parasites, not requiring a vector to reach their hosts, include such parasites of terrestrial vertebrates as lice and mites; marine parasites such as copepods and cyamid amphipods; monogeneans ; and many species of nematodes, fungi, protozoans, bacteria, and viruses. Whether endoparasites or ectoparasites, each has
920-439: A million or more species as yet undescribed. The tropical species Archegozetes longisetosus is one of the strongest animals in the world, relative to its mass (100 μg): It lifts up to 1,182 times its own weight, over five times more than would be expected of such a minute animal. A mite also holds a speed record: for its length, Paratarsotomus macropalpis is the fastest animal on Earth. The mites living in soil consist of
1012-765: A network of sinuses and most mites lacks a heart, movement of fluid being driven by the contraction of body muscles. But ticks, and some of the larger species of mites, have a dorsal, longitudinal heart. Gas exchange is carried out across the body surface, but many species additionally have between one and four pairs of tracheae . The excretory system includes a nephridium and one or two pairs of Malpighian tubules . Several families of mites, such as Tetranychidae, Eriophyidae, Camerobiidae, Cunaxidae, Trombidiidae, Trombiculidae, Erythraeidae and Bdellidae have silk glands used to produce silk for various purposes. Additionally, water mites (Hydrachnidia) produce long thin threads that may be silk. The sexes are separate in mites; males have
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#17327760489301104-418: A pair of testes in the mid-region of the body, each connected to the gonopore by a vas deferens , and in some species there is a chitinous penis ; females have a single ovary connected to the gonopore by an oviduct , as well as a seminal receptacle for the storage of sperm . In most mites, sperm is transferred to the female indirectly; the male either deposits a spermatophore on a surface from which it
1196-836: A parasite employs to identify and approach a potential host are known as "host cues". Such cues can include, for example, vibration, exhaled carbon dioxide , skin odours, visual and heat signatures, and moisture. Parasitic plants can use, for example, light, host physiochemistry, and volatiles to recognize potential hosts. There are six major parasitic strategies , namely parasitic castration ; directly transmitted parasitism; trophically -transmitted parasitism; vector -transmitted parasitism; parasitoidism ; and micropredation. These apply to parasites whose hosts are plants as well as animals. These strategies represent adaptive peaks ; intermediate strategies are possible, but organisms in many different groups have consistently converged on these six, which are evolutionarily stable. A perspective on
1288-635: A parasitic alien species. First used in English in 1539, the word parasite comes from the Medieval French parasite , from the Latinised form parasitus , from Ancient Greek παράσιτος (parasitos) 'one who eats at the table of another' in turn from παρά (para) 'beside, by' and σῖτος (sitos) 'wheat, food'. The related term parasitism appears in English from 1611. Parasitism
1380-432: A phenomenon termed the biotrophy-necrotrophy switch . Pathogenic fungi are well-known causative agents of diseases on animals as well as humans. Fungal infections ( mycosis ) are estimated to kill 1.6 million people each year. One example of a potent fungal animal pathogen are Microsporidia - obligate intracellular parasitic fungi that largely affect insects, but may also affect vertebrates including humans, causing
1472-538: A predator, the European sparrowhawk , giving her time to lay her eggs in the host's nest unobserved. Host species often combat parasitic egg mimicry through egg polymorphism , having two or more egg phenotypes within a single population of a species. Multiple phenotypes in host eggs decrease the probability of a parasitic species accurately "matching" their eggs to host eggs. In kleptoparasitism (from Greek κλέπτης ( kleptēs ), "thief"), parasites steal food gathered by
1564-448: A range of taxa. Oribatida and Prostigmata are more numerous in soil than Mesostigmata, and have more soil-dwelling species. When soil is affected by an ecological disturbance such as agriculture, most mites (Astigmata, Mesostigmata and Prostigmata) recolonise it within a few months, whereas Oribatida take multiple years. Many mites are parasitic on plants and animals. One family of mites, Pyroglyphidae , or nest mites, live primarily in
1656-573: A single host-species. Within that species, most individuals are free or almost free of parasites, while a minority carry a large number of parasites; this is known as an aggregated distribution . Trophically -transmitted parasites are transmitted by being eaten by a host. They include trematodes (all except schistosomes ), cestodes , acanthocephalans , pentastomids , many roundworms , and many protozoa such as Toxoplasma . They have complex life cycles involving hosts of two or more species. In their juvenile stages they infect and often encyst in
1748-542: A small scale, walking is used to access other suitable locations in the immediate vicinity. Some species mount to a high point and adopt a dispersal posture and get carried away by the wind, while others waft a thread of silk aloft to balloon to a new position. Parasitic mites use their hosts to disperse, and spread from host to host by direct contact. Another strategy is phoresy ; the mite, often equipped with suitable claspers or suckers, grips onto an insect or other animal, and gets transported to another place. A phoretic mite
1840-430: A suitable fungus soon after germinating. Parasitic fungi derive some or all of their nutritional requirements from plants, other fungi, or animals. Plant pathogenic fungi are classified into three categories depending on their mode of nutrition: biotrophs, hemibiotrophs and necrotrophs. Biotrophic fungi derive nutrients from living plant cells, and during the course of infection they colonise their plant host in such
1932-1047: A variety of methods to infect animal hosts, including physical contact, the fecal–oral route , free-living infectious stages, and vectors, suiting their differing hosts, life cycles, and ecological contexts. Examples to illustrate some of the many possible combinations are given in the table. social behaviour (grooming) Among the many variations on parasitic strategies are hyperparasitism, social parasitism, brood parasitism, kleptoparasitism, sexual parasitism, and adelphoparasitism. Hyperparasites feed on another parasite, as exemplified by protozoa living in helminth parasites, or facultative or obligate parasitoids whose hosts are either conventional parasites or parasitoids. Levels of parasitism beyond secondary also occur, especially among facultative parasitoids. In oak gall systems, there can be up to five levels of parasitism. Hyperparasites can control their hosts' populations, and are used for this purpose in agriculture and to some extent in medicine . The controlling effects can be seen in
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#17327760489302024-469: A variety of routes. To give a few examples, Bacillus anthracis , the cause of anthrax , is spread by contact with infected domestic animals ; its spores , which can survive for years outside the body, can enter a host through an abrasion or may be inhaled. Borrelia , the cause of Lyme disease and relapsing fever , is transmitted by vectors, ticks of the genus Ixodes , from the diseases' reservoirs in animals such as deer . Campylobacter jejuni ,
2116-474: A way as to keep it alive for a maximally long time. One well-known example of a biotrophic pathogen is Ustilago maydis , causative agent of the corn smut disease. Necrotrophic pathogens on the other hand, kill host cells and feed saprophytically , an example being the root-colonising honey fungi in the genus Armillaria . Hemibiotrophic pathogens begin their colonising their hosts as biotrophs, and subsequently killing off host cells and feeding as necrotrophs,
2208-563: Is a kind of symbiosis , a close and persistent long-term biological interaction between a parasite and its host. Unlike saprotrophs , parasites feed on living hosts, though some parasitic fungi, for instance, may continue to feed on hosts they have killed. Unlike commensalism and mutualism , the parasitic relationship harms the host, either feeding on it or, as in the case of intestinal parasites, consuming some of its food. Because parasites interact with other species, they can readily act as vectors of pathogens, causing disease . Predation
2300-567: Is a simple error because phylogenetic software usually fails in handling non dichotomous phylogenies. Consequently, it may be best for the time being to consider each of the three main prostigmatan lineages to be equally distinct from the other two. The oldest fossils of acariform mites are from the Rhynie Chert , Scotland, which dates to the early Devonian , around 410 million years ago The Cretaceous Immensmaris chewbaccei had idiosoma of more than 8 mm (0.31 in) in length and
2392-675: Is aggregated. Coinfection by multiple parasites is common. Autoinfection , where (by exception) the whole of the parasite's life cycle takes place in a single primary host, can sometimes occur in helminths such as Strongyloides stercoralis . Vector-transmitted parasites rely on a third party, an intermediate host, where the parasite does not reproduce sexually, to carry them from one definitive host to another. These parasites are microorganisms, namely protozoa , bacteria , or viruses , often intracellular pathogens (disease-causers). Their vectors are mostly hematophagic arthropods such as fleas, lice, ticks, and mosquitoes. For example,
2484-443: Is by definition not a symbiosis, as the interaction is brief, but the entomologist E. O. Wilson has characterised parasites as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Within that scope are many possible strategies. Taxonomists classify parasites in a variety of overlapping schemes, based on their interactions with their hosts and on their life cycles , which can be complex. An obligate parasite depends completely on
2576-645: Is found in the ant Tetramorium inquilinum , an obligate parasite which lives exclusively on the backs of other Tetramorium ants. A mechanism for the evolution of social parasitism was first proposed by Carlo Emery in 1909. Now known as " Emery's rule ", it states that social parasites tend to be closely related to their hosts, often being in the same genus. Intraspecific social parasitism occurs in parasitic nursing, where some individual young take milk from unrelated females. In wedge-capped capuchins , higher ranking females sometimes take milk from low ranking females without any reciprocation. In brood parasitism ,
2668-440: Is just a hitch-hiker and does not feed during the time it is carried by its temporary host. These travelling mites are mostly species that reproduce rapidly and are quick to colonise new habitats. Mites are tiny and apart from those that are of economic concern to humans, little studied. The majority are beneficial, living in the soil or aqueous environments and assisting in the decomposition of decaying organic material, as part of
2760-491: Is located on the ventral surface between the fourth pair of legs. Some species have one to five median or lateral eyes but many species are blind, and slit and pit sense organs are common. Both body and limbs bear setae (bristles) which may be simple, flattened, club-shaped or sensory. Mites are usually some shade of brown, but some species are red, orange, black or green, or some combination of these colours. Many mites have stigmata (openings used in respiration). In some mites,
2852-585: Is often unambiguous, it is part of a spectrum of interactions between species , grading via parasitoidism into predation, through evolution into mutualism , and in some fungi, shading into being saprophytic . Human knowledge of parasites such as roundworms and tapeworms dates back to ancient Egypt , Greece , and Rome . In early modern times, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek observed Giardia lamblia with his microscope in 1681, while Francesco Redi described internal and external parasites including sheep liver fluke and ticks . Modern parasitology developed in
Acariformes - Misplaced Pages Continue
2944-464: Is picked up by the female, or he uses his chelicerae or third pair of legs to insert it into the female's gonopore. In some of the Acariformes , insemination is direct using the male's penis. The spermatophora in all mites are aflagellate. The eggs are laid in the substrate , or wherever the mite happens to live. They take up to six weeks to hatch, according to species, with the next stage being
3036-419: Is seen in some species of anglerfish , such as Ceratias holboelli , where the males are reduced to tiny sexual parasites , wholly dependent on females of their own species for survival, permanently attached below the female's body, and unable to fend for themselves. The female nourishes the male and protects him from predators, while the male gives nothing back except the sperm that the female needs to produce
3128-576: Is the Actinedida , but in treatments like the present one, this is split up between the Sarcoptiformes (and formerly the separate Endeostigmata) and Trombidiformes (which contains the bulk of the "Actinedida"), because it appears to be a massively paraphyletic " wastebin taxon ", uniting all Acariformes that are not "typical" Oribatida and Astigmatina . The Trombidiformes present their own problems. The small group Sphaerolichida appears to be
3220-469: Is then carried to a nest, sometimes alongside other prey if it is not large enough to support a parasitoid throughout its development. An egg is laid on top of the prey and the nest is then sealed. The parasitoid develops rapidly through its larval and pupal stages, feeding on the provisions left for it. Koinobiont parasitoids, which include flies as well as wasps, lay their eggs inside young hosts, usually larvae. These are allowed to go on growing, so
3312-735: The Acariformes and the Parasitiformes , which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari . However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as each other's closest relative within Arachnida, rendering the group non- monophyletic . Most mites are tiny, less than 1 mm (0.04 in) in length, and have a simple, unsegmented body plan. The small size of most species makes them easily overlooked; some species live in water, many live in soil as decomposers , others live on plants, sometimes creating galls , while others are predators or parasites . This last type includes
3404-463: The Endeostigmata , was formerly also considered distinct. The latter is composed of only 10 families of little-studied, minute, soft-bodied mites that ingest solid food, such as fungi , algae , and soft-bodied invertebrates such as nematodes , rotifers , and tardigrades . These clades were formerly considered suborders , but this does not allow for a sufficiently precise classification of
3496-704: The Oribatida need to be split up in two, as the Astigmatina are closer to some of them (e.g. certain Desmonomata ) than the latter are to other "Oribatida". The Trombidiformes are most noted for the economic damage caused by many plant parasite species. All of the most important plant pests among the Acari are trombidiformans, such as spider mites (Tetranychidae) and Eriophyidae . Many species are also predators, fungivores , and animal parasites. Some of
3588-527: The Parasitiformes (sometimes known as Anactinotrichida). Recent genetic research has suggested that Acari is polyphyletic (of multiple origins). A study using molecular data from the mitochondria and nucleus recovered Acariformes as sister to the Solifugae (camel spiders) and Parasitiformes as sister to the Pseudoscorpionida , with other arachnid orders separating these two groupings on
3680-499: The Rhynie Chert , Scotland, which dates to the early Devonian , around 410 million years ago while the earliest fossils of Parasitiformes are known from amber specimens dating to the mid- Cretaceous , around 100 million years ago. Most fossil acarids are no older than the Tertiary (up to 65 mya ). Members of the superorders Opilioacariformes and Acariformes (sometimes known as Actinotrichida) are mites, as well as some of
3772-417: The carbon cycle . Two species live on humans, namely Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevis ; both are frequently referred to as eyelash mites. The majority of mite species are harmless to humans and domestic animals , but a few species can colonize mammals directly, acting as vectors for disease transmission, and causing or contributing to allergenic diseases. Mites which colonize human skin are
Acariformes - Misplaced Pages Continue
3864-638: The chelicerae , the pedipalps and the oral cavity. It is covered above by an extension of the body carapace and is connected to the body by a flexible section of cuticle . Two-segmented chelicerae is the ancestral condition in Acariformes, but in more derived groups they are single-segmented. And three-segmented chelicerae is the ancestral condition in Parasitiformes, but has been reduced to just two segments in more derived groups. The pedipalps differ between taxa depending on diet; in some species
3956-461: The microscope by the English polymath Robert Hooke . In his 1665 book Micrographia , he stated that far from being spontaneously generated from dirt, they were "very prettily shap'd Insects". In 1898, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a satirical poem, "A Parable", with the conceit of some cheese mites disputing the origin of the round cheddar cheese in which they all lived. The world's first science documentary featured cheese mites , seen under
4048-505: The snubnosed eel is probably a facultative endoparasite (i.e., it is semiparasitic) that opportunistically burrows into and eats sick and dying fish. Plant-eating insects such as scale insects , aphids , and caterpillars closely resemble ectoparasites, attacking much larger plants; they serve as vectors of bacteria, fungi and viruses which cause plant diseases . As female scale insects cannot move, they are obligate parasites, permanently attached to their hosts. The sensory inputs that
4140-511: The 19th century. In human culture, parasitism has negative connotations. These were exploited to satirical effect in Jonathan Swift 's 1733 poem "On Poetry: A Rhapsody", comparing poets to hyperparasitical "vermin". In fiction, Bram Stoker 's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and its many later adaptations featured a blood-drinking parasite. Ridley Scott 's 1979 film Alien was one of many works of science fiction to feature
4232-601: The Acari has been relatively little studied, but molecular information from ribosomal DNA is being extensively used to understand relationships between groups. The 18 S rRNA gene provides information on relationships among phyla and superphyla, while the ITS2 , and the 18S ribosomal RNA and 28S ribosomal RNA genes, provide clues at deeper levels. The mite fossil record is sparse, due to their small size and low preservation potential. The oldest fossils of acariform mites are from
4324-635: The agents of malaria , sleeping sickness , and amoebic dysentery ; animals such as hookworms , lice , mosquitoes , and vampire bats ; fungi such as honey fungus and the agents of ringworm ; and plants such as mistletoe , dodder , and the broomrapes . There are six major parasitic strategies of exploitation of animal hosts, namely parasitic castration , directly transmitted parasitism (by contact), trophically-transmitted parasitism (by being eaten), vector-transmitted parasitism, parasitoidism , and micropredation. One major axis of classification concerns invasiveness: an endoparasite lives inside
4416-711: The air or soil given off by host shoots or roots , respectively. About 4,500 species of parasitic plant in approximately 20 families of flowering plants are known. Species within the Orobanchaceae (broomrapes) are among the most economically destructive of all plants. Species of Striga (witchweeds) are estimated to cost billions of dollars a year in crop yield loss, infesting over 50 million hectares of cultivated land within Sub-Saharan Africa alone. Striga infects both grasses and grains, including corn , rice , and sorghum , which are among
4508-552: The appendages resemble legs while in others they are modified into chelicerae-like structures. The oral cavity connects posteriorly to the mouth and pharynx . Most mites have four pairs of legs (two pairs in Eriophyoidea ), each with six segments, which may be modified for swimming or other purposes. The dorsal surface of the body is clad in hardened tergites and the ventral surface by hardened sclerites ; sometimes these form transverse ridges. The gonopore (genital opening)
4600-642: The body of honey bees , and Acarapis woodi (family Tarsonemidae ) lives in their tracheae . Hundreds of species are associated with other bees, mostly poorly described. They attach to bees in a variety of ways. For example, Trigona corvina workers have been found with mites attached to the outer face of their hind tibiae. Some are thought to be parasites, while others are beneficial symbionts . Mites also parasitize some ant species, such as Eciton burchellii . Most larvae of Parasitengona are ectoparasites of arthropods, while later life stages in this group tend to shift to being predators. Plant pests include
4692-407: The cause of several types of itchy skin rashes, such as gamasoidosis , rodent mite dermatitis , grain itch , grocer's itch , and scabies ; Sarcoptes scabiei is a parasitic mite responsible for scabies, which is one of the three most common skin disorders in children. Demodex mites, which are common cause of mange in dogs and other domesticated animals, have also been implicated in
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#17327760489304784-437: The commercially destructive Varroa parasite of honey bees , as well as scabies mites of humans. Most species are harmless to humans, but a few are associated with allergies or may transmit diseases. The scientific discipline devoted to the study of mites is called acarology . The mites are not a defined taxon, but is used for two distinct groups of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes . The phylogeny of
4876-864: The deer tick Ixodes scapularis acts as a vector for diseases including Lyme disease , babesiosis , and anaplasmosis . Protozoan endoparasites, such as the malarial parasites in the genus Plasmodium and sleeping-sickness parasites in the genus Trypanosoma , have infective stages in the host's blood which are transported to new hosts by biting insects. Parasitoids are insects which sooner or later kill their hosts, placing their relationship close to predation. Most parasitoids are parasitoid wasps or other hymenopterans ; others include dipterans such as phorid flies . They can be divided into two groups, idiobionts and koinobionts, differing in their treatment of their hosts. Idiobiont parasitoids sting their often-large prey on capture, either killing them outright or paralysing them immediately. The immobilised prey
4968-428: The disease rickettsialpox . House dust mites , found in warm and humid places such as beds, cause several forms of allergic diseases, including hay fever , asthma and eczema , and are known to aggravate atopic dermatitis . Among domestic animals , sheep are affected by the mite Psoroptes ovis which lives on the skin, causing hypersensitivity and inflammation. Hay mites are a suspected reservoir for scrapie ,
5060-409: The energy that would have gone into reproduction into host and parasite growth, sometimes causing gigantism in the host. The host's other systems remain intact, allowing it to survive and to sustain the parasite. Parasitic crustaceans such as those in the specialised barnacle genus Sacculina specifically cause damage to the gonads of their many species of host crabs . In the case of Sacculina ,
5152-491: The evolutionary options can be gained by considering four key questions: the effect on the fitness of a parasite's hosts; the number of hosts they have per life stage; whether the host is prevented from reproducing; and whether the effect depends on intensity (number of parasites per host). From this analysis, the major evolutionary strategies of parasitism emerge, alongside predation. Parasitic castrators partly or completely destroy their host's ability to reproduce, diverting
5244-444: The family Cuculidae , over 40% of cuckoo species are obligate brood parasites, while others are either facultative brood parasites or provide parental care. The eggs of some brood parasites mimic those of their hosts, while some cowbird eggs have tough shells, making them hard for the hosts to kill by piercing, both mechanisms implying selection by the hosts against parasitic eggs. The adult female European cuckoo further mimics
5336-424: The host and parasitoid develop together for an extended period, ending when the parasitoids emerge as adults, leaving the prey dead, eaten from inside. Some koinobionts regulate their host's development, for example preventing it from pupating or making it moult whenever the parasitoid is ready to moult. They may do this by producing hormones that mimic the host's moulting hormones ( ecdysteroids ), or by regulating
5428-442: The host to complete its life cycle, while a facultative parasite does not. Parasite life cycles involving only one host are called "direct"; those with a definitive host (where the parasite reproduces sexually) and at least one intermediate host are called "indirect". An endoparasite lives inside the host's body; an ectoparasite lives outside, on the host's surface. Mesoparasites—like some copepods , for example—enter an opening in
5520-422: The host's body and remain partly embedded there. Some parasites can be generalists, feeding on a wide range of hosts, but many parasites, and the majority of protozoans and helminths that parasitise animals, are specialists and extremely host-specific. An early basic, functional division of parasites distinguished microparasites and macroparasites. These each had a mathematical model assigned in order to analyse
5612-453: The host's body; an ectoparasite lives outside, on the host's surface. Like predation, parasitism is a type of consumer–resource interaction , but unlike predators , parasites, with the exception of parasitoids, are much smaller than their hosts, do not kill them, and often live in or on their hosts for an extended period. Parasites of animals are highly specialised , each parasite species living on one given animal species, and reproduce at
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#17327760489305704-656: The host's endocrine system. A micropredator attacks more than one host, reducing each host's fitness by at least a small amount, and is only in contact with any one host intermittently. This behavior makes micropredators suitable as vectors, as they can pass smaller parasites from one host to another. Most micropredators are hematophagic , feeding on blood. They include annelids such as leeches , crustaceans such as branchiurans and gnathiid isopods, various dipterans such as mosquitoes and tsetse flies , other arthropods such as fleas and ticks, vertebrates such as lampreys , and mammals such as vampire bats . Parasites use
5796-425: The host. A parasitic plant is classified depending on where it latches onto the host, either the stem or the root, and the amount of nutrients it requires. Since holoparasites have no chlorophyll and therefore cannot make food for themselves by photosynthesis , they are always obligate parasites, deriving all their food from their hosts. Some parasitic plants can locate their host plants by detecting chemicals in
5888-477: The host. The parasitism is often on close relatives, whether within the same species or between species in the same genus or family. For instance, the many lineages of cuckoo bees lay their eggs in the nest cells of other bees in the same family. Kleptoparasitism is uncommon generally but conspicuous in birds; some such as skuas are specialised in pirating food from other seabirds, relentlessly chasing them down until they disgorge their catch. A unique approach
5980-423: The hosts suffer increased parental investment and energy expenditure to feed parasitic young, which are commonly larger than host young. The growth rate of host nestlings is slowed, reducing the host's fitness. Brood parasites include birds in different families such as cowbirds , whydahs , cuckoos , and black-headed ducks . These do not build nests of their own, but leave their eggs in nests of other species . In
6072-417: The human skin disease rosacea , although the mechanism by which demodex contributes to the disease is unclear. Ticks are well known for carrying diseases, such as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever . Chiggers are known primarily for their itchy bite , but they can also spread disease in some limited circumstances, such as scrub typhus . The house-mouse mite is the only known vector of
6164-472: The intermediate host. When the intermediate-host animal is eaten by a predator, the definitive host, the parasite survives the digestion process and matures into an adult; some live as intestinal parasites . Many trophically transmitted parasites modify the behaviour of their intermediate hosts, increasing their chances of being eaten by a predator. As with directly transmitted parasites, the distribution of trophically transmitted parasites among host individuals
6256-471: The intestinal infection microsporidiosis . Protozoa such as Plasmodium , Trypanosoma , and Entamoeba are endoparasitic. They cause serious diseases in vertebrates including humans—in these examples, malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery —and have complex life cycles. Many bacteria are parasitic, though they are more generally thought of as pathogens causing disease. Parasitic bacteria are extremely diverse, and infect their hosts by
6348-441: The large blue butterfly, Phengaris arion , its larvae employing ant mimicry to parasitise certain ants, Bombus bohemicus , a bumblebee which invades the hives of other bees and takes over reproduction while their young are raised by host workers, and Melipona scutellaris , a eusocial bee whose virgin queens escape killer workers and invade another colony without a queen. An extreme example of interspecific social parasitism
6440-579: The largest group is the parasitoid wasps in the Hymenoptera. The phyla and classes with the largest numbers of parasitic species are listed in the table. Numbers are conservative minimum estimates. The columns for Endo- and Ecto-parasitism refer to the definitive host, as documented in the Vertebrate and Invertebrate columns. A hemiparasite or partial parasite such as mistletoe derives some of its nutrients from another living plant, whereas
6532-537: The marine worm Bonellia viridis has a similar reproductive strategy, although the larvae are planktonic. Examples of the major variant strategies are illustrated. Parasitism has an extremely wide taxonomic range, including animals, plants, fungi, protozoans, bacteria, and viruses. Parasitism is widespread in the animal kingdom, and has evolved independently from free-living forms hundreds of times. Many types of helminth including flukes and cestodes have complete life cycles involving two or more hosts. By far
6624-594: The microscope; the short film was shown in London's Alhambra music hall in 1903, causing a boom in the sales of simple microscopes. Parasitism Parasitism is a close relationship between species , where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host , causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson characterised parasites as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as
6716-597: The mites and is abolished in more modern treatments; the Endeostigmata are variously considered to form a suborder on their own (the old view) or are included mainly in the Sarcoptiformes, thus making both groups monophyletic . The superfamily Eriophyoidea , traditionally considered members of the Trombidiformes, have been found to be basal mites in genomic analyses, sister to the clade containing Sarcoptiformes and Trombidiformes. Another group often mentioned
6808-575: The most ancient lineage among them. However, the Prostigmata are variously subdivided into the Anystina and Eleutherengona , and Eupodina . The delimitation and interrelationships of these groups are entirely unclear; while most analyses find one of the latter two, but not the other to be a subgroup of the Anystina; neither of these mutually contradicting hypotheses is very robust; possibly this
6900-435: The most conspicuous species of free-living mites are the relatively large and bright red velvet mites, that belong to the family Trombidiidae . Oribatid mites and to a much lesser extent others are a source of alkaloids in poison frogs (namely small species like the strawberry poison-dart frog Oophaga pumilio ). Such frogs raised without these oribatids in their diets do not develop the strong poisons associated with them in
6992-612: The most diverse and successful of all invertebrate groups. They have exploited a wide array of habitats , and because of their small size go largely unnoticed. They are found in freshwater (e.g. the water mites or Hydrachnidia ) and saltwater (most Halacaridae ), in the soil, in forests, pastures, agricultural crops, ornamental plants, thermal springs and caves. They inhabit organic debris of all kinds and are extremely numerous in leaf litter. They feed on animals, plants and fungi and some are parasites of plants and animals. Some 48,200 species of mites have been described, but there may be
7084-506: The nests of birds and other animals. These mites are largely parasitic and consume blood , skin and keratin . Dust mites , which feed mostly on dead skin and hair shed from humans instead of consuming them from the organism directly, evolved from these parasitic ancestors. Ticks are a prominent group of mites that are parasitic on vertebrates, mostly mammal and birds, feeding on blood with specialised mouthparts. Parasitic mites sometimes infest insects. Varroa destructor attaches to
7176-407: The next generation. Adelphoparasitism, (from Greek ἀδελφός ( adelphós ), brother ), also known as sibling-parasitism, occurs where the host species is closely related to the parasite, often in the same family or genus. In the citrus blackfly parasitoid, Encarsia perplexa , unmated females may lay haploid eggs in the fully developed larvae of their own species, producing male offspring, while
7268-425: The order Oribatida are very ancient and likely arose 400-300 million years ago. In some parthenogenetic species that undergo automixis (a kind of self-fertilization that retains meiosis ) sexual reproduction has re-emerged. Eriophyidae , plant parasites , e.g. Acalitus essigi (redberry mite) Mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods ). Mites span two large orders of arachnids,
7360-413: The phylogenetic tree, as shown below. Palpigradi False scorpions [REDACTED] Ixodida (ticks) [REDACTED] Parasitic mites, inc. Varroa [REDACTED] Trombidiformes (chiggers, velvet mites, etc) [REDACTED] Sarcoptiformes (dust & fur mites, etc) [REDACTED] Camel spiders [REDACTED] other Arachnids including spiders and scorpions However,
7452-417: The point where, while they are evidently able to infect all other organisms from bacteria and archaea to animals, plants and fungi, it is unclear whether they can themselves be described as living. They can be either RNA or DNA viruses consisting of a single or double strand of genetic material ( RNA or DNA , respectively), covered in a protein coat and sometimes a lipid envelope. They thus lack all
7544-535: The population movements of the host–parasite groupings. The microorganisms and viruses that can reproduce and complete their life cycle within the host are known as microparasites. Macroparasites are the multicellular organisms that reproduce and complete their life cycle outside of the host or on the host's body. Much of the thinking on types of parasitism has focused on terrestrial animal parasites of animals, such as helminths. Those in other environments and with other hosts often have analogous strategies. For example,
7636-564: The six-legged larvae. After three moults, the larvae become nymphs, with eight legs, and after a further three moults, they become adults. Longevity varies between species, but the lifespan of mites is short compared to many other arachnids. Mites occupy a wide range of ecological niches . For example, Oribatida mites are important decomposers in many habitats. They eat a wide variety of material including living and dead plant and fungal material, lichens and carrion; some are predatory , though no oribatid mites are parasitic . Mites are among
7728-477: The so-called spider mites (family Tetranychidae ), thread-footed mites (family Tarsonemidae ), and the gall mites (family Eriophyidae ). Among the species that attack animals are members of the sarcoptic mange mites (family Sarcoptidae ), which burrow under the skin. Demodex mites (family Demodecidae ) are parasites that live in or near the hair follicles of mammals , including humans. Being unable to fly, mites need some other means of dispersal. On
7820-505: The stigmata are associated with peritremes: paired, tubular, elaborated extensions of the tracheal system. The higher taxa of mites are defined by these structures: Mite digestive systems have salivary glands that open into the preoral space rather than the foregut. Most species carry two to six pairs of salivary glands that empty at various points into the subcheliceral space. A few mite species lack an anus: they do not defecate during their short lives. The circulatory system consists of
7912-466: The testes of over two-thirds of their crab hosts degenerate sufficiently for these male crabs to develop female secondary sex characteristics such as broader abdomens, smaller claws and egg-grasping appendages. Various species of helminth castrate their hosts (such as insects and snails). This may happen directly, whether mechanically by feeding on their gonads, or by secreting a chemical that destroys reproductive cells; or indirectly, whether by secreting
8004-403: The tropics, however effectively cheat by taking carbon from a fungus rather than exchanging it for minerals. They have much reduced roots, as they do not need to absorb water from the soil; their stems are slender with few vascular bundles , and their leaves are reduced to small scales, as they do not photosynthesize. Their seeds are small and numerous, so they appear to rely on being infected by
8096-506: The usual machinery of the cell such as enzymes , relying entirely on the host cell's ability to replicate DNA and synthesise proteins. Most viruses are bacteriophages , infecting bacteria. Parasitism is a major aspect of evolutionary ecology; for example, almost all free-living animals are host to at least one species of parasite. Vertebrates, the best-studied group, are hosts to between 75,000 and 300,000 species of helminths and an uncounted number of parasitic microorganisms. On average,
8188-589: The way that the CHV1 virus helps to control the damage that chestnut blight , Cryphonectria parasitica , does to American chestnut trees, and in the way that bacteriophages can limit bacterial infections. It is likely, though little researched, that most pathogenic microparasites have hyperparasites which may prove widely useful in both agriculture and medicine. Social parasites take advantage of interspecific interactions between members of eusocial animals such as ants , termites , and bumblebees . Examples include
8280-442: The wild. Acariformes species appear to have evolved from a sexual ancestor and the primary manner of reproduction during the course of evolution has been sexual reproduction . However, within the super order Acariformes, parthenogenetic species have arisen numerous times during the course of evolution. In contrast to the commonly held view that parthenogenetic lineages are short lived, four species-rich parthenogenetic clusters of
8372-471: The world's most important food crops. Orobanche also threatens a wide range of other important crops, including peas , chickpeas , tomatoes , carrots , and varieties of cabbage . Yield loss from Orobanche can be total; despite extensive research, no method of control has been entirely successful. Many plants and fungi exchange carbon and nutrients in mutualistic mycorrhizal relationships. Some 400 species of myco-heterotrophic plants, mostly in
8464-621: Was the largest fossil acariform mite and also the largest erythraeoid mite ever recorded. The Sarcoptiformes ingest solid food, being mainly microherbivores, fungivores and detritivores . Some Astigmatina – the Psoroptidia – have become associated with vertebrates and nest-building insects . These include the well known house dust mites , scab mites and mange mites, stored product mites, feather mites and some fur mites. The relationships between their main groups are not well-resolved and subject to revision. In particular it appears as if
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