Progression of parasitism from phoresy in mites

Abstract

The mites are the smallest (less than a millimeter in length), the most diverse, and the most common of all arachnids. Mites are ubiquitous and inhabit all known terrestrial, marine, and freshwater habitats, including arctic and alpine extremes, tropical plains and desert barrens, and surface and mineral soils (Dunlop and Alberti, 2008). More than 55,000 species have been described up to date, accounting for 5% of all living species today. Mites are experts at transport with the aid of large animals, mostly insects. It is a temporary relationship called phoresy that allows the mites to exploit scarce resources. Phoresy in the subclass Acari includes insects that feed on carriers. Phoresy evolved from free-living ancestors. The primary waste material used by floating mites appears to be rotting logs. However, rapid changes in the later life stage allowed the development of short-term resources. Although phoresy is a form of social interaction, most interact with mites. These relationships can be very complex and context-specific, but they often use the vector's sources or descendants (Seeman and Walter, 2023). The switch from phoretic to parasitism seems popular, but the scientific evidence for a switch from phoretic to permanent parasitism seems to be lacking.