epibiontn.
/ɛpɪˈbʌɪɒnt/ An organism that lives on the surface of another, esp. one that is not normally parasitic on it.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > organisms in interrelationship > [noun] > one or each of two
commensal1872
mutualist1874
symbiont1887
symbiote1897
parasymbiont1911
partner1924
parabiont1935
coactee1939
coactor1939
epibiont1949
1949 W. C. Allee et al. Princ. Animal Ecol. xvii. 244/1 Representatives of many different phyla grow as epicoles (epibionts) on the shells or the skin of others without becoming noticeably parasitic.
1951 Arch. Néerlandaises de Zool. X. 38 I found no evidence that any of the epibionts can be considered as true parasites feeding on the living tissues of the oyster itself.
1957 New Biol. 23 62 An epibiont is an organism which lives on the surface of another organism, without causing any direct harm.
1961 J. Green Biol. Crustacea vii. 104 Sometimes one finds that there is competition for space on the surface of a popular host. The epibionts, which are the organisms living on the surface, of Daphnia, show this rather well.
1965 V. A. Dogiel Gen. Protozool. (ed. 2) x. 574 The great majority of Protozoa of the plankton are free-living. Among them only a few epibionts belonging to the Suctoria lead an attached mode of life... The total number of such epibiotic forms is limited to a few dozen.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1949