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parasitism: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As parasite

Photos and Videos

dodder
Diagram of the life cycle of the black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis), showing seasonal stages from engorged female laying eggs in spring, larva and nymph stages feeding on animal and human hosts in summer, and adult ticks on hosts in fall and winter. Arrows indicate progression through each stage, with illustrations of ticks and typical hosts such as deer, horses, dogs, and humans.
Malaria life cycle
brood parasitism
Two-part illustration showing parasitoid wasps. On the left, a female Ichneumonidae wasp uses her ovipositor to lay eggs inside a host larva beneath tree bark. On the right, the life cycle of a Trichogramma wasp is depicted, with a female laying eggs in a host egg, development from larva to pupa, and an adult wasp emerging.
Zombie-ant fungus
parasitic dodder
Plasmodium vivax, malaria parasite
European mistletoe
A tall white mushroom in the forest.
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Key People

Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Virchow
German pathologist and statesman
Ōmura Satoshi
Ōmura Satoshi
Japanese microbiologist
Campbell, William
William Campbell
Irish-born American parasitologist
Theobald Smith
Theobald Smith
American pathologist
Manson, detail of an oil painting by J. Young Hunter, 1912; in the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, London
Sir Patrick Manson
Scottish parasitologist
Maurice Caullery
Maurice Caullery
French biologist