Tags: Arachnid.

Dicrocheles phalaenodectes is a parasitic mite of moths which infest the ear of certain species. They are notable in that only one ear is ever colonised leaving one intact so that the host is still able to detect the sound from hunting bats. This is taken to be an adaptation reducing the ‘virulence’ of the parasite to avoid its own destruction along with the host.A population of moths was found in New Zealand in which both ears where parasitised the local bat population being extinct.

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