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?

Mosquito

The correct answer is Option (1) → Mosquito

Parasitism: Parasitism is a relationship between two living organisms of different species in which one organism called parasite obtains its food directly from other living organism called host. Many parasites have evolved to be host-specific (they can parasitise only a single species of host) in such a way that both host and the parasite tend to co-evolve; that is, if the host evolves special mechanisms for rejecting or resisting the parasite, the parasite has to evolve mechanisms to counteract and neutralise them, in order to be successful with the same host species.

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. 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.In contrast, endoparasites are those that live inside the host body at different sites (liver, kidney, lungs, red blood cells, etc.).

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.e.g. the movements of the cuckoo (koel) and the crow during the breeding season (spring to summer) and watch brood parasitism in action.

The female mosquito is not considered a parasite, although it needs our blood for reproduction because its relationship with humans does not fit the strict biological definition of parasitism. A parasite typically has a prolonged or continuous association with its host, deriving sustenance or shelter over an extended period. In contrast, a female mosquito only interacts with a human briefly, just long enough to feed on blood.