Life Cycle
Pentastomids live in the upper respiratory tract of reptiles, birds, and mammals, where they lay eggs. They are dioecious, and employ internal fertilisation. The eggs are either coughed out by the host or leave the host body through the digestive system. The eggs are then ingested by an intermediate host, which is commonly either a fish or a small herbivorous mammal.
The larva hatches in the intermediate host and breaks through the wall of the intestine. It then forms a cyst in the intermediate host's body. The larva is initially rounded in form, with four or six short legs, but moults several times to achieve the adult form. The pentastomid reaches the main host when the intermediate host is eaten by the main host, and crawls into the respiratory tract from the oesophagus.
Read more about this topic: Pentastomida, Biology
Famous quotes containing the words life and/or cycle:
“The compensation of a very early success is a conviction that life is a romantic matter. In the best sense one stays young.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Roumania.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)