Parasitoids and hyperparasitoids

A parasitoid is an insect that feeds in or on another living animal (usually an insect or other sort of arthropod) for a long time, eating most of its tissues and eventually killing it. It is really a type of parasite, but the fact that it eventually kills its host, makes it also sort of a predator, hence the need for a separate term.  Parasitoids are particularly prevelant in the wasps (Hymenoptera) and flies (Diptera).

hyperparasite / hyperparasitoid. A parasitoid whose host is another parasitoid, thus representing a forth trophic level: e.g. a plant (level 1) is fed on by a herbivorous insect (level 2) which is parsitised by a parasitoid (level 3) which is parasitised by a hyperparasitoid (level 4).

Publications

• Feener, D.H. & Brown, B.V. 1997. Diptera as parasitoids. Annual Review of Entomology 42: 73-97.

• Sullivan, D.J. & Völkl, W. 1999. Hyperparasitism: multitrophic ecology and behavior. Annual Review of Entomology 44: 291-315.

Text by Hamish Robertson