Temporary parasites are

Correct option is A

The correct answer is (a)  Visit host only for feeding
Explanation: •  Temporary parasites (also known as intermittent parasites) are organisms that do not live on or in the host continuously. • They  visit the host briefly for a specific purpose, primarily for  feeding, and spend the rest of their time as free-living organisms in the environment. • Common examples include  mosquitoes,  bedbugs, and  leeches, which attach to a host to take a blood meal and then leave. • This is in contrast to  permanent parasites (like tapeworms or head lice), which spend most or all of their life cycle in or on a single host. • Their interaction with the host is often described as  hit-and-run parasitism because of the short duration of the contact.
Information Booster: • According to  NCERT Biology, parasitism is a type of population interaction where one species (parasite) benefits at the expense of the other (host). • Temporary parasites are often vectors for diseases; for example, the female  Anopheles mosquito is a temporary parasite that acts as a vector for the  Malaria parasite.
Additional Knowledge: (b) Lives on the surface of host's body (Option b) • These are known as  Ectoparasites (e.g., ticks, mites, and lice). While some ectoparasites can be temporary, others are permanent residents on the host's skin or hair.
(c) Completes its life cycle inside the host (Option c) • These are called  Endoparasites (e.g.,  Plasmodium,  Ascaris). They live inside the host's body, often in organs like the intestine, liver, or red blood cells.
(d) Free living but become parasitic if opportunity arises (Option d) • These are known as  Facultative parasites. They normally live independently but can adopt a parasitic lifestyle if they accidentally enter a suitable host.