Insects as Parasites

Insects as Parasites — page 1 — What are Parasites Deer Fly Imagine having a tiny animal wrapped around your ankle or living in your stomach Everywhere you go it goes with you Occasionally it takes a bite out of you That’s what it’s like to have a parasite Parasites are creatures that feed off other animals without killing them 4

Insects as Parasites — page 2 — Ectoparasites are organisms that live on the outside of an animal Ticks are fairly common ectoparasites of dogs The animal a parasite feeds on is its host Parasites are usually smaller than their hosts and live inside or on them Insect parasites use hooks claws or suckers to catch or hang on to their hosts Chiggers and other mites are parasites that feed on insects but they aren’t insects themselves Like spiders mites are a type of arachnid with eight legs instead of six 5

Insects as Parasites — page 3 — Tiny twisted-wing parasites have many hosts to choose from They make themselves comfortable in silverfish crickets leafhoppers ants wasps bees cockroaches mantises or flies For protection they make a house of their host’s body tissues They can make their hosts infertile or unable to reproduce A male twisted-winged parasite feeds on a bee The larvae of twisted wing parasites are some of the tiniest animals in the world but there are a lot of them Females may produce up to 7,000 offspring 6

Insects as Parasites — page 4 — Alcon blue butterflies are brood parasites Brood parasites are organisms that rely on others to raise their young Alcon blue caterpillars start out eating plants and fall to the ground Soon red ants find them The caterpillar’s coating smells like baby ants so the ants carry the caterpillar back to their nest The ants adopt the caterpillars as their own and feed them The ants own larvae may starve at the same time 7

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