Home > Parasite

Parasites are generally smaller than their hosts, absorbing nutrients from the host's body fluids, but this is far from a universal strategy.

Organisms whose life cycle guarantees the death of the host are not called parasites, but are parasitoids.

A few parasites have hosts which are themselves parasites. These are called hyperparasites.

1 Examples

• Endoparasites (endo = within; parasites that live inside their hosts)
  • Plants
    • Rafflesia
  • Animals
    • Acanthocephala
    • Clonorchis sinensis
    • Dracunculiasis (Guinea Worm Disease)
    • Enterobius vermicularis
    • Strepsiptera
    • Strongyloides stercoralis
    • Balantidium coli
    • Giardia lamblia
    • MalariaMalaria ( Italian: bad air ; formerly called ague or marsh fever in English) is an infectious disease which causes about 500 million infections and 2 million deaths annually, mainly in the tropics and sub-Saharan Africa. The protozoan cause of malaria was
  • Fungi
    • Gymnosporangiumglobosum (juniper-hawthorn rust) G. juniperi-virginianae (juniper-apple or cedar-apple rust) G. sabinae (juniper-pear rust) G. clavipes (juniper-quince or cedar-quince rust) Ref: 2002-06-22 2002-06-22 Synonyms and common names Juniper-apple or cedar-apple and other rusts

• Ectoparasites (ecto = outside; parasites that live on but not within their hosts, for example, attached to their skin)
  • Plants
    • CuscutaCuscuta americana Cuscuta applanata Cuscuta approximata Cuscuta attenuata Cuscuta boldinghii Cuscuta brachycalyx Cuscuta californica Cuscuta cassytoides Cuscuta ceanothi Cuscuta cephalanthi Cuscuta compacta Cuscuta coryli Cuscuta corylii Cuscuta cuspidata
    • MistletoeMistletoe is the common name for various evergreen parasitic plants of the families Loranthaceae and Viscaceae, especially "European Mistletoe" Viscum album and "American Mistletoe" Phoradendron flavescens with waxy white berries and smooth-edged oval lea
    • ToothwortToothwort the popular name for a small British plant of curious form and growth, known botanically as Lathraea squamaria family: Scrophulariaceae. It grows parasitically on roots, chiefly of hazel (or holly), in shady places such as hedge sides. It consis
    • The woodroseThe woodrose Dactylanthus taylorii, is a fully parasitic plant that grows on the roots of certain trees in New Zealand. The host tree responds to the presence of Dactylanthus by forming a burl-like structure that resembles a fluted wooden rose (hence the, Dactylanthus taylorii
  • Animals
    • Hirudinea (leeches, but only some types)
    • Phthiraptera (Lice)
    • Siphonaptera (Fleas)
    • Acarina (Ticks)
    • Tantulocarida

Many lifeforms are parasitic only during a part of their lifecycle. Many cuckoos, for example, are brood parasites: their young are parasitic on the host species, but adult cuckoos fend for themselves.

The term parasite is also used for people who benefit from a relationship, society or system without contributing significantly to it.

See also: saprophyte, intestinal parasite