A Bird Is Infested with the Bloodsucking Larvae of Blowflies

question 218

Multiple Choice

A bird is infested with the bloodsucking larvae of blowflies.The blowfly larvae fall off the bird and are themselves infested with parasitic wasps.The wasps contain a parasitic bacterium, which in turn is infested with bacteriophages, or parasitic viruses.This multitiered system could be considered evidence for

• A) the importance of birds as parasite hosts.
• B) the importance of bacteria and viruses as disease agents.
• C) microparasites controlling populations of macroparasites.
• D) macroparasites controlling populations of microparasites.
• E) specialization resulting in the large number of parasite species.