Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An association between two species in which one transports the other, for example when a mite attaches to a beetle and is carried to a new food source.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a symbiotic relationship between two different organisms in which the larger (the host) transports the smaller (the guest)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin phorēsia, from Greek phorēsis, a carrying; see –phoresis.]

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Examples

  • This ass-riding behavior, called phoresy, has been described in other dung beetles, but the Jacobs paper notes a new case and provides visual evidence in the form of stunning full-color photographs.

    Todd Palmer and Rob Pringle: How To Find A Turd In The Woods 2009

  • This ass-riding behavior, called phoresy, has been described in other dung beetles, but the Jacobs paper notes a new case and provides the first visual evidence in the form of stunning full-color photographs.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com 2009

  • The technical term for this type of hitchhiking is phoresy.

    Let them disperse AYDIN 2007

  • Freshwater larvae in the act of phoresy while attached to a water beetle.

    Let them disperse AYDIN 2007

  • The technical term for this type of hitchhiking is phoresy.

    Archive 2007-02-01 AYDIN 2007

  • Freshwater larvae in the act of phoresy while attached to a water beetle.

    Archive 2007-02-01 AYDIN 2007

  • phoresy - the now-common behavior of one animal using a completely different species for transportation - has been around for at least 50 million years in these mites.

    Wired Top Stories Wired UK 2011

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