Read the paragraph and answer the Question given below:
There is no natural habitat on earth known that is inhabited just by a single species. For any species, the minimal requirement is one more species on which it can feed. Even a plant species, which makes its own food, cannot survive alone and needs soil microbes to break down the organic matter in soil and return the inorganic nutrients for absorption. It is obvious that in nature, animals, plants and microbes do not and cannot live in isolation but interact in various ways to form a biological community.
Which of the following is not classified into the category of parasites?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Mosquito
Option (1) Mosquito — Not a parasite. A parasite lives on or in its host and depends on it for food and shelter. The female mosquito only takes a blood meal and flies away; she does not live on the host.
Option (2) Cuckoo — A parasite. The cuckoo (koel) is a brood parasite. It lays its eggs in the nest of the crow and lets the crow incubate them. Its eggs look like the host’s eggs, so the crow does not throw them out.
Option (3) Cuscuta — A parasite. Cuscuta is a parasitic plant that has lost its chlorophyll and leaves and takes its food from the host plant.
Option (4) Ticks — A parasite. Ticks on dogs are ectoparasites: they live and feed on the outer surface of the host.
Note: The passage is taken from NCERT. NTA has put lines of the NCERT text together to make it. Most CUET (UG) questions come straight from NCERT, so study the book line by line, including figures and their titles.
NCERT Extract:
Population Interactions – “… Parasites that feed on the external surface of the host organism are called ectoparasites. The most familiar examples of this group are the lice on humans and ticks on dogs. Many marine fish are infested with ectoparasitic copepods. Cuscuta, a parasitic plant that is commonly found growing on hedge plants, has lost its chlorophyll and leaves in the course of evolution. It derives its nutrition from the host plant which it parasitises. The female mosquito is not considered a parasite, although it needs our blood for reproduction. Brood parasitism in birds is a fascinating example of parasitism in which the parasitic bird lays its eggs in the nest of its host and lets the host incubate them. … Try to follow the movements of the cuckoo (koel) and the crow in your neighborhood park during the breeding season (spring to summer) and watch brood parasitism in action.”