Alteration of host stage distribution by parasitic water mites of the species Hydrachna virella (Acari: Hydrachnidae).
The effect of a parasitic water mite, Hydrachna virella, on the stage distribution (the proportion of the host population represented by a stage) of its aquatic insect host, Buenoa scimitra, was studied using a stage-based matrix model. Despite killing members of several stages, the mite increased the stage-distribution values of those stages. This effect seems to result from a lag in the rate of development of parasitized hosts; parasitized hosts remain in a stage longer. Consequently, a stage with parasitized individuals would represent a larger proportion of the host population than would the same stage with only unparasitized individuals. Parasites that delay host development can bias field estimates of prevalence or proportion of a host population (or stage) parasitized.
Lanciani
C A
CA
Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611, USA.
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology*; D007814:Larva; D008297:Male; D008925:Mites / Q000502:physiology*; D009758:Nymph