Parasitism | Definition & Examples | Britannica

parasitism, relationship between two species of plants or animals in which one benefits at the expense of the other, sometimes without killing the host organism.

Parasites may be characterized as ectoparasites—including ticks, fleas, leeches, and lice—which live on the body surface of the host and do not themselves commonly cause disease in the host; or endoparasites, which may be either intercellular (inhabiting spaces in the host’s body) or intracellular (inhabiting cells in the host’s body). Intracellular parasites—such as bacteria or viruses—often rely on a third organism, known as the carrier, or vector, to transmit them to the host. Malaria, which is caused by a protozoan of the genus Plasmodium transmitted to humans by the bite of an anopheline mosquito, is an example of this interaction. The plant ailment known as Dutch elm disease (caused by the fungus Ceratocystis ulmi) can be spread by the European elm bark beetle.

A different form of parasitism called brood parasitism is practiced by most species of cuckoos and all cowbirds. Those birds do not build nests of their own but deposit their eggs in the nests of other species and abandon them there, with the hope that adult birds of other species will raise the abandoned young as their own. The cowbird’s parasitism does not necessarily harm the host or the host’s brood; however, the cuckoo may remove one or more host eggs to reduce the suspicion surrounding the presence of its egg, and the young cuckoo may heave the host’s eggs and nestlings from the nest.

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Another form of parasitism, such as that practiced by some ants on ants of other species, is known as social parasitism. (Social parasitism is a condition where a parasitizing ant species depends upon the labour provided by a host ant species within the context of a mixed-species colony.) Parasites may also become parasitized; such a relationship, known as hyperparasitism, may be exemplified by a protozoan (the hyperparasite) living in the digestive tract of a flea living on a dog.

Sexual parasitism, which is actually a type of specialized reproduction, is most commonly associated with deep-sea anglerfish, where it occurs in more than 20 species. In these fish, males are much smaller than females. (In the case of the northern seadevil, or deep-sea angler, Ceratias holboelli, females may be more than 60 times the size of males.) Females possess a luring apparatus to entice prey, but males do not. However, males possess the visual and olfactory acuity to locate females so that they might obtain food. Males attach themselves to females with their jaws, and in some cases the tissues and circulatory systems between the sexes are joined. Thereafter, the male serves as a sperm-producing organ on the female, since transformation makes him completely dependent upon her.

Other forms of sexual parasitism also exist, including those in which the genetic material from one parent is discarded by the other parent despite the effort made by the other parent to produce and deliver it. For example, young resulting from the pairing of sailfin mollies (Poecilia latipinna) and Atlantic mollies (P. mexicana) are females that can produce only clones of themselves. They need sperm from males of either of the two species to start the process; however, since all offspring are clones of their mother, no male DNA is passed on.

Parasitism differs from parasitoidism, a relationship in which the parasite always kills the host. Female insect parasitoids lay their eggs in or on the host, upon which the larvae feed on hatching. Most parasitoids are wasps; however, some other members of order Hymenoptera (which includes ants and bees) have also evolved to become parasitoids. A few members from other insect groups have adopted this strategy, including some flies, some species of butterflies and moths, several beetles, and one caddisfly species.