[ **up: [[Parasites]]** ] --- # Parasitoids Parasitoids are a type of [[Parasites|parasite]]. - [[2024-0420. A parasitoid is 'an organism that spends part of its life as a parasite and part as a predator'.]][^1] - [[2024-0528. 'A parasitoid is an organism that has young develop on or within another organism (the host), eventually killing it.']][^2] --- + parasitoids are “somewhere between” [[Parasites|parasites]] and [[Predators|predators]].[^3] > “Just like a parasite, \[parasitoids] infect their host and use them for nutrients to grow; but they also kill their host as a necessary part of their life cycle”[^3] --- + [[2024-0528. There are three main ways parasitoids will infect their hosts.]][^2] + [[2024-0528. The larvae of parasitoids grow by ‘feeding on the bodily fluids or the internal organs’ of their host.]][^2] - [[2024-0528. Predators and parasitoids help keep plant-eating insects in check.]][^2] ----- ## Examples - [[Hyposoter (Genus)#*Hyposoter horticola*|Hyposoter horticola]] (parasitic wasp) - [[Ophiocordyceps unilateralis]] (parasitic fungi) - [[Caterpillar fungus|Ophiocordyceps sinensis]] (parasitic fungi) [^1]: Michael Allaby (ed.), *A Dictionary of Zoology* (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020), 5th edn., s.v. ‘parasitoid’, https://www-oxfordreference-com.rp.nla.gov.au/view/10.1093/acref/9780198845089.001.0001/acref-9780198845089-e-6370. [^2]: ‘[[Australian Museum. ‘Predators, parasites and parasitoids’, 2022.|Predators, parasites and parasitoids]], *Australian Museum*, updated 6 April 2022, https://australian.museum/learn/animals/insects/predators-parasites-and-parasitoids/. [^3]: Allanah Mott, ‘[[Mott. ‘A miniature zombie apocalypse_ how one fungus controls the minds and bodies of ants to send them to their demise’, 2021.|A miniature zombie apocalypse: how one fungus controls the minds and bodies of ants to send them to their demise]],’ *Scientific Scribbles* (blog), University of Melbourne, last updated 17 September 2021, https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2021/09/17/a-miniature-zombie-apocalypse-how-one-fungus-controls-the-minds-and-bodies-of-ants-to-send-them-to-their-demise/.