lestobiosisn.
/ˌlɛstə(ʊ)bʌɪˈəʊsɪs/ Zoology.
A form of symbiosis found among certain social insects in which a small species inhabits the nest of a larger one and feeds on the food stored there, or on the brood of the larger species. Cf. kleptobiosis n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > [noun] > member of > defined as social insect or association of > in which species inhabits nest and takes food
lestobiosis1903
1903 Biol. Bull. 4 147 This mode of life has been recently called ‘lestobiosis’ by Forel.
1927 H. St. J. K. Donisthorpe Guests of Brit. Ants iii. 78 Ants exhibit a variety of associations, symbiotic, mutualistic, and parasitic... Such associations consist of—Cleptobiosis (originally used to denote thievery, now applied to brigandage by Wheeler); Lestobiosis [etc.].
1967 J. H. Sudd Introd. Behaviour Ants v. 78 Forel coined the name lestobiosis for the supposed life of brigandage which S. fugax leads.
1975 E. O. Wilson Sociobiol. 588 Lestobiosis, the relationship in which colonies of a small species of social insect nest in the walls of a larger species and enter the chambers of the larger species to prey on brood or to rob the food stores.
Derivatives
lestobiotic adj. /ˌlɛstə(ʊ)baɪˈɒtɪk/ exhibiting or pertaining to lestobiosis.
/ˌlɛstə(ʊ)baɪˈɒtɪk/ exhibiting or pertaining to lestobiosis.ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > [adjective] > exhibiting or relating to lestobiosis
lestobiotic1913
1913 W. M. Wheeler Ants xxiii. 427 The lestobiotic species, most of which belong to the Myrmicine tribe Solenopsidii, comprise the following.
1967 J. H. Sudd Introd. Behaviour Ants v. 78 Most of the other ants which are said to be lestobiotic are found well away from the nests of other ants too.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1997; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
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n.1903