Adactylidium

Taxobox
name = Adactylidium
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Arachnida
ordo = Actinedida
familia = Acarophenacidae
genus = "Adactylidium"

"Adactylidium" is a genus of mite known for its unusual life cycle. The pregnant female mite feeds upon a single egg of a thrips, growing five to eight female offspring and one male in her body. Soon, the offspring devour their mother from the inside out, and the single male mite mates with all the daughters. The females, now impregnated, cut holes in their mother's body so that they can emerge to find new thrips eggs. The male emerges as well, but does not look for food or new mates, and dies after a few hours.

References

*cite book |author=Stephen Jay Gould |year=1980 |chapter=Death Before Birth, or a Mite's "Nunc Dimittis" | pages=69-75 |title= |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |id=ISBN 0-393-01380-4