Host sex preferences and transmission success by the water mite Unionicola foili (Acari: Unionicolidae) parasitic on the midge Chironomus tentans (Diptera: Chironomidae).

This study examined whether ecoparasitic larval Unionicola foili exhibited a sex bias when infecting laboratory populations of the host insect Chironomus tentans and whether an association with male or female midges increased the likelihood of larval mites returning to the aquatic habitat. When laboratory populations of C. tentans were exposed to larval U.