phoresy
/fəˈriːsi
/ /ˈfɒrəsi /noun [mass noun] Zoology
An association between two organisms in which one (e.g. a mite) travels on the body of another, without being a parasite.This behavior by the lice is known as phoresy and is in effect a risky process of redistribution in which the lice get to travel freely on the flies....
- The only means of dispersal available to them are walking, passive aerial dispersal, or phoresy.
Derivatives
phoretic
- The most abundant acari was the phoretic glycyphagid mite, Orycteroxenus soricis, followed by the parasitic listrophorid mite, Asiochirus blarina.
- Emergence occurs after a stylopized wasp (containing a gravid female X. vesparum) alights on flowers, and subsequent transport of first instars to the nest is phoretic, via a foraging wasp.
- Factors that might affect O. minus abundance and growth include phloem chemistry, temperature, relative humidity, and the abundance of Tarsonemus mites that are phoretic on D. frontalis adults and act as vectors of O. minus spores.
Origin
1920s: from French phorésie, from Greek phorēsis 'being carried'.