Adactylidium
| Adactylidium | |
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| Genus: | Adactylidium Cross, 1965
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Adactylidium is a genus of mites. It is known for its short and unusual life cycle.[1] The pregnant female mite attaches herself to a single egg of a thrip.[2] She grows from five to eight female offspring and one male in her body. The offspring begin to eat their mother from the inside out.[3] The single male mite mates with all his sisters when they are still in the mother.[2] The females, now pregnant, cut holes in their mother's body. This is so that they can get out to find new thrips eggs.[2] The male gets out too. But having served his biological function he dies after a few hours.[2] The females die at the age of four days, when their own offspring eat them alive from the inside.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Stephen Jay Gould (1980). "Death before birth, or a mite's nunc dimittis". The panda's thumb: more reflections in natural history. Norton. pp. 69–75. ISBN 9780393013801.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Gould, Stephen Jay 1980. The throwaway male. New Scientist. 86, (1204), Apr 24, p. 206.
- ↑ Kirkwood T.B.; Cremer T. (1982). "Cytogerontology since 1881: a reappraisal of August Weismann and a review of modern progress" (PDF). Human Genetics. 60 (2): 101–121. doi:10.1007/BF00569695. PMID 7042533. S2CID 25744635.
