In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host.
What do you call a parasite that kills its host?
Parasitoids are small insects whose immature stages develop either within or attached to the outside of other insects, referred to as hosts. Parasitoids eventually kill the host they feed on, as opposed to parasites like fleas and ticks, which typically feed upon hosts without killing them.
Does a parasite eventually kills its host?
Parasites generally do not kill the host but may harm the host indirectly by spreading pathogens. This may affect the host's behaviour, metabolism or its reproductive activity.
What is an Endoparasitoid?
An endoparasitoid is a parasite that lives inside another animal and ultimately kills it. Endoparasitoids, such as some solitary wasps, are commonly used as biological control agents. A parasitic wasp, Peristenus digoneutis, laying an egg in a plant bug nymph.
What is Koinobiont?
KOINOBIONT: A parasitoid developing in a host that continues to be mobile and able to defend itself; hosts that are larvae often are not killed until they have prepared cryptic pupation retreats. Contrast with IDIOBIONT.
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