-cola, -colas; -cole; -colent; -colid; -coline; -colous

(Latin: to inhabit; to live in, to live on, to live among; to dwell; living among, dwelling in; occurring on, occurring in)

Suffixes that refer to the location or an area of growth. Used primarily in botanical and biological terminology to indicate a plant or an organism that is characterized by a habitat or place of existence as indicated by the combining root.

The suffix -cole is derived from Latin colere, "to inhabit, to dwell, to live".

If you want to see more details about a "Source" link under any of the entries in this unit, click on it and you will be taken to the Bibliography of Habitat and Dwelling Environments unit and there you can find the book by scrolling down until you see the TITLE of the book in GREEN.

Don't confuse this -cole, -cola , "inhabit, live in, dwelling in" unit with the following cole-, coleo- (sheath, scabbard, vagina); coll-, col- (neck); collo-, coll- (glue); colo-, col- (colon, large intestine); and colon-, coln- (farm, settlement) units.

acarocola (s) (noun), acarocolas (pl): mites

Certain species that are dwelling in association with mites whether such relationships are desirable or not.

  • Some acarocolas or ferns are benefiting from their symbiotic relationships with these insects because they are being pollinated by them.
  • More often, there are acarocolas that involve attacking humans, hogs, horses, dogs, and other animals as mites feed in the skin and produce definite burrows in which eggs are laid.
  • In centuries past, it was thought that such acarocolas were caused by bad blood or improper life styles.
  • Mites that make their acarocolas on hogs usually cause them to vigorously scratch and rub themselves and the skin on their heads, necks, and backs become rough, scabby, cracked, and pimpled.
  • Different species of mites are known to inhabit a variety of acarocolas; such as on sheep, goats, cattle, and many other animals where they live and feed at the base of the hairs or wool.
—Source: General and Applied Entomology, pages 16-18.
acarocole (verb), acarocoles; acarocoled; acarocoling

To be present in almost every habitat on land.

  • Mites and ticks acarocole as pests in crops and stored food and they are also acarocoling as parasites that attack mammals, birds, and reptiles.
  • Some plants are severely harmed when the mites acarocole on the leaves and suck out the sap.
acarocoline (adjective), more acarocoline, most acarocoline

Small insects or arthropods which tend to establish a symbiotic relationship with their host, or hosts, which may vary from vegetative to animal, including mammals, birds, and insectivores.

In the list below, are some of the acarocoline mites and ticks that have been identified as existing in nature and their special characteristics.

  • Flour Mites, pests that feed on stored cereal products and whose presence can cause allergic reactions in humans.
  • Chigger Mites, adults are vegetarian; however, their larvae feed on the skin of other animals, including humans, which causes intense irritations.
  • Common Velvet Mites, when young, they live parasitically (feeding on or in another organism) off other arthropods, but then they become predatory when mature (killing and eating other organisms).
  • Two-Spot Spider Mites, families that suck the sap of plants which weakens the plants and can transmit viral diseases.
  • Varroa Mites are parasitic on honeybees, the young feed on bee larvae and when they are mature, they attach themselves to adult bees and spread to other hives.
  • Mange Mites are very tiny and they borrow into the skin of various mammal species, completing their life cycles there where they cause scabies in humans and mange in carnivores.

    "Mange" is a disease that causes itchy skin and the loss of fur.

  • Chicken Mites are blood-sucking parasites on poultry and they complete their life cycles in crevices away from their hosts, but they come out at night to feed on their former hosts.
  • Persian-Fowl Ticks are blood sucking parasites of fowls, including domestic chickens and this oval shaped, soft bodied tick can spread diseases between birds and can cause paralysis.
  • Lone-Star Ticks, like other blood-sucking ticks, are common in U.S. woodlands and they can transmit a number of disease-causing microbes.
—Source: Smithsonian Natural History, page 263.
acarocolous (adjective), more acarocolous, most acarocolous

A reference to mites and ticks that infest various areas in nature.

  • There are several acarocolous species that are too small to be seen without the use of some form of magnifying instrument and they abound in almost every habitat where they scavenge on waste materials, prey on other tiny invertebrates, or live as parasites on many larger species of life.
  • Some acarocolous mites are harmless as they exist in skin follicles, feathers, or fur; while others cause diseases or allergies.
  • The acarocolous ticks are blood-suckers and spread disease-causing microbes in animals.
—Source: Smithsonian Natural History, page 262.
acrodendrocola (s) (noun), acrodendrocolas (pl): tree tops

The zones or levels in the highest areas of forests.

  • The highest level of an acrodendrocola is known as the emergent layer where the large birds of prey can scan the lower treetops for potential quarry or take off high flights.
  • Two examples of birds that live in the emergent layer of an acrodendrocola are Monkey-eating Eagles in Asia and the Harpy Eagles of South America.
  • Emergent layer in an acrodendrocola refers to a scattering of trees that project much higher than the other trees.
  • This "attic" of the forests in the acrodendrocola has the most variable conditions of any other area of a forest because it is more exposed to the elements in that it gets the full force of the sun, wind, and rain.
  • Beneath the emergent area of an acrodendrocola is the canopy layer which has colorful flowers and fruits, which are said to be delicately plucked and eaten by certain birds with very large and light bills; such as, the great hornbills in Africa and the toco toucans of South America and sloths usually spend most of their lives hanging upside down from branches in the forest canopy where they depend on the camouflage to keep from being attacked.
  • The ringtailed possums have special tails that help them climb along high branches to reach flowers and fruit in the acrodendrocolas.
  • Koalas normally live in the forest canopy of an acrodendrocola and they also walk across the ground to reach isolated clumps of trees.
  • The golden-crowned kinglet bird is one of several small insect eaters which eat and nest high above the ground in the canopies of acrodendrocolas while the great horned owl flies at night from the canopies hunting small mammals and birds that live in the forests.
  • —Source: Smithsonian Animal Encyclopedia, pages 48 & 49.
  • The forest canopy is a third layer in a rain forest, below the canopy layer, consisting of a thick layer of branches, leaves, etc. providing acrodendrocolas for many animals.
  • —Source: Smithsonian Animals, page 16.
acrodendrocole (verb), acrodendrocoles; acrodendrocoled; acrodendrocoling

To dwell and to thrive in tree tops.

  • Predatory birds usually acrodendrocole with their nests in the top zones of forests.
  • The canopy has a great deal of light and some protection by the higher emergents levels; so, this layer feeds and makes it easier for many animals to be acrodendrocoling in that area of forests.
—Source: Smithsonian Animal Encyclopedia, page 49.
acrodendrocoline (adjective), more acrodendrocoline, most acrodendrocoline

Descriptive of habitats of some forests; such as, in southern Asia.

  • When a reference is made to acrodendrocoline creatures living in seasonal forests, it is a description of a habitat that is located in areas where the rainfall is concentrated into a wet or a rainy season.
  • This rainy season is known as a monsoon at which time it will contain eight and one fourth feet (2.5 meters) of rain in a short period of just three months which is as much as some tropical rain forests receive throughout the whole year.
  • In Asia's seasonal forests, there are some acrodendrocoline birds, including giant hornbills; as well as, some of the world's largest snakes.
—Source: Smithsonian Animal Encyclopedia, page 48.
acrodendrocolous (adjective), more acrodendrocolous, most acrodendrocolous

Pertaining to living in high areas of forests that have an abundance of animals.

  • In certain African acrodendrocolous trees, climbing can be a dangerous activity for such large animals as apes and monkeys if they lose their grips and then make fatal falls; which actually happens sometimes.
  • Gibbons are said to travel underneath the acrodendrocolous branches by swinging hand-over-hand in acrobatic ways.
  • The seasonal alacrodendrocolous forest is not as tall as a tropical rain forest and usually the canopy (the layer just below the emergent or top layer) is open more and it extends farther toward the floor of the forest.
  • As soon as the monsoon season is over, the seasonal acrodendrocolous forest is full of green plants; however, during the long dry season which follows, many of the trees shed their leaves and the sunlight easily shines through the branches to the ground.
  • When the acrodendrocolous trees lose their leaves, some of them have flowers and fruit and then the birds, mammals, and insects come together in large numbers to eat.
  • In southern Asia, the acrodendrocolous habitats of the seasonal forests include monkeys, elephants, leopards, and even tigers.
  • In Africa, the acrodendrocolous forests have many antelopes nibbling; while in Central America, the woods are inhabited by pumas, coatis (a member of the raccoon family which has a long, pointed nose), and white-tailed deer.
—Source: Smithsonian Animal Encyclopedia, page 49.
aerocola (s) (noun), aerocolas (pl): wind

Anything that lives in or which is carried by the wind, breeze, etc.

  • There are many air borne aerocolas; such as, pollen that may cause hay fever or other respiratory illnesses among animals.
  • Feathered birds and insects of the air are distributed over the aerocolas of the earth and are inhabiting almost every possible area other than the deep oceans.
  • Birds have special places in aerocolas, ranging in size from very tiny hummingbirds, that weigh just a few grams, to eagles.
  • The numbers of insects that exist in aerocolas is impossible to determine because there are so many different species.
aerocole (verb), aerocoles; aerocoled; aerocoling

To live in or to inhabit the air or the wind as a means of surviving; such as, most birds, bats, and certain insects.

  • Garden flowers which sway in the wind are aerocoling pollen in the breezes which are distributed to other flowers.
  • Most birds aerocole; for example, hummingbirds that are extracting nectar from flowers and swallows that are feeding on air borne insects.
  • Bats are the only mammals that are capable of aerocoling and they exist in several different habitats; including tropical, subtropical, and temperate forests; as well as, savanna grasslands, deserts, and wetlands.
  • Bats aerocole by eating fruits and insects, drinking nectar and eating pollen, and a few even suck the blood of large animals; while some of the others eat fish, frogs, and other bats.
—Source: Smithsonian Natural History, page 550.
aerocolous (adjective), more aerocolous, most aerocolous

Characteristic of species that function in the air.

  • There are some very specialized aerocolous predators of the night; such as, owls and bats; as well as, those of the daylight hours; including eagles, hawks, and falcons.
  • Birds of prey are the largest group of day-flying aerocolous hunters and most of them are primarily meat-eaters.
  • Many of these aerocolous birds have strong wings and some of them fly very high in the sky and save energy by soaring and from such heights they use their exceptional abilities to see and dive down to catch their victims.
  • Some of the aerocolous hunters include vultures, condors, falcons, ospreys, eagles, buzzards, and hawks.
  • Additional aerocolous flying species are seed-eating and fruit-eating birds widely distributed around the world that include great varieties of pigeons, doves, parrots, parakeets, cockatoos, and cuckoos.
  • Owls use their skills mostly as nighttime aerocolous hunters and they have large, forward-facing eyes, that let them see better in dim-light conditions and they also have very sensitive hearing.
  • We should also remember that there are some very fast flying aerocolous swifts and hummingbirds (which can fly backward).
—Source: Smithsonian Natural History, pages 430 to 471.
aerohygrocola (s) (noun), aerohygrocolas (pl): high atmosphere
Those creatures that naturally thrive in high atmospheric humidities.
aerohygrocolous (adjective), more aerohygrocolous, most aerohygrocolous
agaricole (verb), agaricoles; agaricoled; agaricoling
To live on mushrooms and toadstools: Deer, squirrels, birds, and turtles agaricole especially in winter when food requirements become critical.
agaricolous (adjective), more agaricolous, most agaricolous
A reference to species living on mushrooms and toadstools: The agaricolous red squirrel eats both mushrooms and toadstools, like the fly agaric, which are very toxic to mankind.

For more details about plants and animals living together, go to this Habitats for the Living page.

The list of books or the resources that were used to compile the information for this unit are available at this Bibliography of Habitat and Dwelling Environments unit.


You may take a self-scoring quiz over some of the words in this section by clicking on this -cole, -colus quiz to check your word knowledge for this unit or even learn some of the words via this quiz.

Related life, live-word units: anima-; bio-; vita-; viva-.