Microbivory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Microbivory (adj. microbivorous, microbivore[1]) is a feeding behavior consisting of eating microbes (especially bacteria) practiced by animals of the mesofauna, microfauna and meiofauna.[2][3][4]
Microbivorous animals include some soil nematodes,[5][6][7] springtails or flies such as Drosophila sharpi. A well known example of microbivorous nematodes is the model roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans which is maintained in culture in labs on agar plates, fed with the 'OP50' Escherichia coli strain of bacteria.
In food webs of ecosystems, microbivores can be distinguished from detritivores, generally thought playing the roles of decomposers, as they don't consume decaying dead matter but only living microorganisms.