From the Latin com mensa, meaning 'sharing a table'. In ecology, commensalism is an interaction between two living organisms, where one organism (the commensal) benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped. As with all ecological interactions, commensalisms vary in strength and duration from intimate, long-lived symbioses to brief, weak interactions through intermediaries. An example in literature: Landau, G.D., & M.J. Gaylor, 1987. Observations on commensal Diptera (Milichiidae and Chloropidae) associated with spiders in Alabama. - Journal of Arachnology 15(2): 270-272.
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