Parasite

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

Examples

• Endoparasites (endo = within; parasites that live inside their hosts)
  • Plants
    • Rafflesia
  • Animals
    • Acanthocephala
    • Enterobius vermicularis
    • Strepsiptera
    • Strongyloides stercoralis
  • Fungi
    • Gymnosporangium and other rusts

• Ectoparasites (ecto = outside; parasites that live on but not within their hosts, for example, attached to their skin)
  • Plants
    • Cuscuta
    • Mistletoe
    • Toothwort
  • Animals
    • Phthiraptera

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.

See also: saprophyte[?], intestinal parasite