Kleptoparasitism
Encyclopedia
Parasitism
Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host . These are now called macroparasites...
by theft
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
) is a form of feeding
Feeding
Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffix -vore from Latin vorare, meaning 'to devour', or phagy, from Greek φαγειν, meaning 'to eat'.-Evolutionary history:...
in which one animal takes prey or other food from another that has caught, collected, or otherwise prepared the food, including stored food (as in the case of cuckoo bee
Cuckoo bee
The term cuckoo bee is used for a variety of different bee lineages which have evolved the kleptoparasitic habit of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, reminiscent of the behavior of cuckoo birds. The name is technically best applied to the apid subfamily Nomadinae...
s, which lay their eggs on the pollen masses made by other bees). The term is also used to describe the stealing of nest
Nest
A nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...
material or other inanimate objects from one animal by another.
The kleptoparasite gains either by obtaining prey or other objects that it could not obtain itself, or by saving the time and effort required to obtain it. However, the kleptoparasite may run the risk of injury from the victim if it is able to defend its property.
Kleptoparasitism may be intraspecific
Intraspecific competition
Intraspecific competition is a particular form of competition in which members of the same species vie for the same resource in an ecosystem...
(the parasite is the same species as the victim) or interspecific
Interspecific competition
Interspecific competition, in ecology, is a form of competition in which individuals of different species compete for the same resource in an ecosystem...
(the parasite is a different species). In the latter case, the parasites are commonly close relatives of the organisms they parasitize ("Emery's Rule
Emery's Rule
In 1909, the entomologist Carlo Emery noted that social parasites among insects tend to be parasites of species or genera to which they are closely related. Over the years, this pattern has been recognized in many additional cases, and generalized to what is now known as Emery's Rule...
").
Animals that have extraordinarily specialized feeding methods are often targets of kleptoparasitism. For example, oystercatcher
Oystercatcher
The oystercatchers are a group of waders; they form the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, Haematopus. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia...
s are unusual in being able to break through the shells of mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s; adult oystercatchers suffer intraspecific kleptoparasitism from juveniles that are not yet strong or skillful enough to open mussels easily. Diving birds that bring their prey to the surface suffer interspecific kleptoparasitism from gull
Gull
Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...
s, which are unable to fetch fish from the sea floor themselves. Chinstrap penguins
Chinstrap Penguin
The Chinstrap Penguin is a species of penguin which is found in the South Sandwich Islands, Antarctica, the South Orkneys, South Shetland, South Georgia, Bouvet Island and Balleny...
also actively engage in kleptoparasitism, being known to steal rocks and other nest materials from members of their colony
Bird colony
A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in close proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting birds is called a breeding colony...
for use in their own nest.
Bees and wasps
There are many different lineages of cuckoo beeCuckoo bee
The term cuckoo bee is used for a variety of different bee lineages which have evolved the kleptoparasitic habit of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, reminiscent of the behavior of cuckoo birds. The name is technically best applied to the apid subfamily Nomadinae...
s, all of which lay their eggs in the nest cells of other bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s. There is also a family of cuckoo wasp
Cuckoo wasp
Commonly known as cuckoo wasps, the Hymenopteran family Chrysididae is a very large cosmopolitan group of parasitoid or cleptoparasitic wasps, often highly sculptured, with brilliantly colored metallic-like bodies...
s, many of which lay their eggs in the nests of potter
Potter wasp
Potter wasps are a cosmopolitan wasp group presently treated as a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae.-Recognition:...
and mud dauber
Mud dauber
Mud dauber is a name commonly applied to a number of wasps from either the family Sphecidae or Crabronidae that build their nests from mud...
wasps; many other lineages of wasp
Wasp
The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
s in various families have evolved similar habits. These insects are normally referred to as "kleptoparasites," rather than as "brood parasite
Brood parasite
Brood parasites are organisms that use the strategy of brood parasitism, a kind of kleptoparasitism found among birds, fish or insects, involving the manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the brood-parasite...
s." The distinction is that the term "brood parasite" is generally restricted to cases where the immature parasite is fed directly by the adult of the host, and raised as the host's offspring (as is common in bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s). Such cases are virtually unknown in bees and wasps, which tend to provide all of the food for the larva before the egg is laid; in only a few exceptional cases (such as parasitic bumblebee
Bumblebee
A bumble bee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere although they are common in New Zealand and in the Australian state of Tasmania.Bumble bees are social insects that are characterised by black...
s) will a bee or wasp female feed a larva that is not her own species. The difference is only in the nature of the interaction by which the transfer of resources occurs (tricking a host into handing over food rather than stealing it by force or stealth), which is why brood parasitism is considered a special form of kleptoparasitism.
Flies
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
are kleptoparasites, this being especially common in the subfamily Miltogramminae
Miltogramminae
Miltogramminae is a subfamily of the family Sarcophagidae.-Genera:*Aenigmetopia*Alusomyia*Ambouya*Amobia*Apodacra*Beludzhia*Chaetapodacra*Chivamyia*Craticulina*Dolichotachina*Eremasiomyia...
of the family Sarcophagidae. There are also some kleptoparasites in the families
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Chloropidae
Chloropidae
Chloropidae is a family of flies commonly known as frit flies or grass flies. There are approximately 2000 described species in over 160 genera distributed worldwide. These are usually very small flies, yellow or black and appearing shiny due to the virtual absence of any hairs. The majority of the...
and Milichiidae
Milichiidae
Milichiidae are a family of flies. Most species are very small and dark in colour. Details of their biology have not yet been properly studied, but they are best known as kleptoparasites of predatory invertebrates, and accordingly are commonly known as freeloader flies or jackal flies...
. Some adult milichiids, for example, visit spider web
Spider web
A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....
s where they scavenge on half-eaten stink bugs. Others are associated with robber flies (Asilidae
Asilidae
Insects in the Diptera family Asilidae are commonly called robber flies. The family Asilidae contains about 7,100 described species worldwide....
), or Crematogaster
Crematogaster
Crematogaster is an ecologically diverse genus of ants found worldwide, which are characterised by a distinctive heart-shaped gaster , which gives one of their common names, Valentine Ant. It is the only genus of the tribus Crematogastrini. Most of species are arboreal...
ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s. Flies in the genus Bengalia
Bengalia
Bengalia is a genus of blow flies in the family Calliphoridae with one authority considering the genus to belong to a separate family Bengaliidae. These bristly and, unlike the greens and blues of most calliphorids, dull coloured flies, are especially noted for their relationship to ants...
(Calliphoridae) steal food and pupae transported by ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s and are often found beside their foraging trails.
True bugs
Heteroptera
Heteroptera is a group of about 40,000 species of insects in the Hemiptera. Sometimes called "true bugs", that name more commonly refers to Hemiptera as a whole, and "typical bugs" might be used as a more unequivocal alternative since among the Hemiptera the heteropterans are most consistently and...
) are known to engage in kleptoparastism of prey. In one study, whenever the bug Velia caprai (Water cricket) took prey heavier than 7.9 g, other bugs of the same species joined it and successfully ate parts of the prey.
Spiders
Kleptoparasitic spiderSpider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s, which steal or feed on prey captured by other spiders, are known to occur in five families:
- TheridiidaeTheridiidaeTheridiidae is a large family of spiders, also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders. The diverse family includes over 2200 species in over 100 genera) of three-dimensional space-web-builders found throughout the world...
(ArgyrodesArgyrodesSpiders of the genus Argyrodes , also called dewdrop spiders, occur worldwide. They are best known as kleptoparasites: they steal other spiders' prey. They invade and reside in their host's web even though they can spin their own webs...
species) - Dictynidae (Archaeodictyna ulova)
- Salticidae (species of Portia and SimaethaSimaethaSimaetha is a spider genus of the Salticidae family .All species inhabit the Australasian region, with the exception of one African species, S...
) - SymphytognathidaeSymphytognathidaeThe Symphytognathidae are a spider family with 44 described species in six genera.The minute species Patu digua with its body size of only 0.37mm is considered to be one of the smallest spiders in the world.-Distribution:...
(Curimagua bayano) - MysmenidaeMysmenidaeThe Mysmenidae are a spider family with almost 100 described species in more than twenty genera.-Distribution:Species occur in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, New Guinea and several islands.-Genera:* Acrobleps Hickman, 1979...
(Isela okuncana, Kilifia inquilina, and MysmenopsisMysmenopsisMysmenopsis is a kleptoparasitic genus of tiny tropical and subtropical American spiders in the family Mysmenidae. Most live in the funnelwebs of spiders in the family Dipluridae. M. archeri lives on webs of a species in the family Pholcidae, M. capae and M. cienga have been observed living in...
species).
Vertebrates
Birds
Kleptoparasitism is relatively uncommon in birds. However, some non-passerine groups, such as skuaSkua
The skuas are a group of seabirds with about seven species forming the family Stercorariidae and the genus Stercorarius. The three smaller skuas are called jaegers in North America....
s, jaegers and frigatebird
Frigatebird
The frigatebirds are a family, Fregatidae, of seabirds. There are five species in the single genus Fregata. They are also sometimes called Man of War birds or Pirate birds. Since they are related to the pelicans, the term "frigate pelican" is also a name applied to them...
s, rely extensively on such behavior to obtain food, and others—including raptor
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
s, gull
Gull
Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...
s, terns, coot
Coot
Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Fulica. Coots have predominantly black plumage, and, unlike many of the rails, they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water...
s, and some duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
s and shorebirds—will do so opportunistically. Among opportunistic species such as the Roseate Tern
Roseate Tern
The Roseate Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in bill colour and minor plumage details....
, research has found that parent birds involved in kleptoparasitism are more successful in raising broods than non-kleptoparasitic individuals. Bald Eagles can also be seen attacking smaller raptors, such as Ospreys, to steal fish away from them. Among passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
birds, there are fewer known examples of kleptoparasitism, though Masked Shrike
Masked Shrike
The Masked Shrike, Lanius nubicus, is a member of the shrike family Laniidae. It breeds in southeastern Europe and the eastern end of the Mediterranean, with a separate population in western Iran. It is a common species in Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and Syria...
s have been recorded stealing food from wheatear
Wheatear
The wheatears are passerine birds of the genus Oenanthe. They were formerly considered to be members of the thrush family Turdidae, but are now more commonly placed in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae...
s, and Eurasian Blackbirds have been seen stealing smashed snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s from other thrushes
Thrush (bird)
The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
.
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
) are masters of piracy. Their victims are typically gulls and terns, though other fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
-eating species (including auk
Auk
An auk is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. Auks are superficially similar to penguins due to their black-and-white colours, their upright posture and some of their habits...
s) are also pursued until they disgorge their catches. The fact that skuas are swift and agile fliers—and that they sometimes gang up on a single victim—aid in their success rate.
During seabird
Seabird
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
nesting seasons, frigatebirds will soar above seabird colonies, waiting for parent birds to return to their nest
Nest
A nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...
s with food for their young. As the returning birds approach the colony, the frigatebirds (which are fast and agile) drop down and pursue them vigorously; they have been known to seize tropicbird
Tropicbird
Tropicbirds are a family, Phaethontidae, of tropical pelagic seabirds now classified in their own order Phaethontiformes. Their relationship to other living birds is unclear, and they appear to have no close relatives. There are three species in one genus, Phaethon...
s by their long tail plumes. Many of the frigatebirds' colloquial names, including Man-o'-War Bird and Pirate of the Sea, are a clear reference to this kleptoparasitic behaviour.
A study of kleptoparasitism in the Magnificent Frigatebird
Magnificent Frigatebird
The Magnificent Frigatebird was sometimes previously known as Man O'War, reflecting its rakish lines, speed, and aerial piracy of other birds....
suggests that the amount of food obtained by kleptoparasitism may be marginal.
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, Heermann's Gull
Heermann's Gull
The Heermann's Gull is a gull resident in the United States, Mexico and extreme southwestern British Columbia. Of the current population of about 150,000 pairs, 90% nest on the island of Isla Rasa off Baja California in the Gulf of California, with smaller colonies as far north as California and...
s and Laughing Gull
Laughing Gull
The Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla, is a medium-sized gull of North and South America. It breeds on the Atlantic coast of North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. Northernmost populations migrate further south in winter, and this species occurs as a rare vagrant to western...
s are known to steal food from Brown Pelican
Brown Pelican
The Brown Pelican is the smallest of the eight species of pelican, although it is a large bird in nearly every other regard. It is in length, weighs from and has a wingspan from .-Range and habits:...
s; as the pelicans surface and empty the water from their bills, the gulls lurk nearby and grab escaping food items.
Several species of coots and gallinules have been recorded engaging in kleptoparasitism. American Coot
American Coot
The American Coot is a bird of the family Rallidae, inhabiting wetlands and open water bodies. Measuring in length and across the wings, adults have a short thick white bill and white frontal shield, which usually has a reddish-brown spot near the top of the bill between the eyes...
s often feed in the company of other waterfowl species, and occasionally will rob diving ducks—including Ring-necked Duck
Ring-necked Duck
The Ring-necked Duck is a smaller diving duck from North America.The adult male is similar in color pattern to the Eurasian Tufted Duck, its relative. It has a grey bill with a white band, a shiny purple head, a white breast, yellow eyes and a dark grey back...
s, Redhead
Redhead (duck)
The Redhead is a medium-sized diving duck, 37 cm long with an 84 cm wingspan.The adult male has a blue bill, a red head and neck, a black breast, yellow eyes and a grey back. The adult female has a brown head and body and a darker bluish bill with a black tip.The breeding habitat is...
s and Canvasback
Canvasback
The Canvasback is the largest of the North American diving ducks, that ranges from between long and weighs approximately , with a wingspan of . The canvasback has a distinctive wedge-shaped head and long graceful neck. The adult male has a black bill, a chestnut red head and neck, a black...
—when they surface with food. Eurasian Coot
Eurasian Coot
The Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra, also known as Coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. The Australian subspecies is known as the Australian Coot.-Distribution:...
s steal from conspecifics, as well as from diving and dabbling ducks, and swans. Allen's Gallinule
Allen's Gallinule
The Allen's Gallinule , formerly known as the Lesser Gallinule is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae. Its former binomial name is Porphyrula alleni....
s rob both conspecifics and African Pygmy Geese
African Pygmy Goose
The African Pygmy Goose is a very small perching duck from sub-Saharan Africa. It has been featured in many Vietnamese pornographic films. It is the smallest African waterfowl. It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies....
.
Mammals
The relationship between Spotted HyenaSpotted Hyena
The spotted hyena also known as laughing hyena, is a carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae, of which it is the largest extant member. Though the species' prehistoric range included Eurasia extending from Atlantic Europe to China, it now only occurs in all of Africa south of the Sahara save...
s and Lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, in which each species steals the other's kills, is a form of kleptoparasitism. All hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
species engage in this behavior when they can, and jackal
Jackal
Although the word jackal has been historically used to refer to many small- to medium-sized species of the wolf genus of mammals, Canis, today it most properly and commonly refers to three species: the black-backed jackal and the side-striped jackal of sub-Saharan Africa, and the golden jackal of...
s also steal from other carnivores' kills. Sperm Whale
Sperm Whale
The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is a marine mammal species, order Cetacea, a toothed whale having the largest brain of any animal. The name comes from the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in the animal's head. The sperm whale is the only living member of genus Physeter...
s sometimes steal fish from fishermen's lines, making them the largest of all kleptoparasites.
Humans
Humans have been found to chase away lionLion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s from their captured prey and consume the meat themselves. A researcher noted the behaviour in Waza National Park
Waza National Park
Waza National Park is a national park in Far North Province, Cameroon. It was founded in 1934, albeit as a hunting reserve, and covers a total of 1,700 km²...
, Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
in 2006, and other ecologists have suggested that the behaviour may be widespread but often goes unrecognised. Interviews with Bororo
Wodaabe
The Wodaabe or Bororo are a small subgroup of the Fulani ethnic group. They are traditionally nomadic cattle-herders and traders in the Sahel, with migrations stretching from southern Niger, through northern Nigeria, northeastern Cameroon, and the western region of the Central African Republic....
herdsmen suggested that they often chase lions away from their prey. This kleptoparasitism may be contributing to the decline of lion populations within the national park.