List of parasitic organisms

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of organisms that are true parasites upon other organisms. For more information on this topic, see main article: Parasitism. For information on parasitoids, see main article: Parasitoid.

Contents 1 Endoparasites 1.1 Plants 1.2 Animals 1.3 Fungi 1.4 Protists (Protozoa) 1.5 Fictional endoparasites 2 Ectoparasites 2.1 Plants 2.2 Animals 2.3 Fictional ectoparasites

[edit] Endoparasites

(endo = within; parasites that live inside their hosts)

[edit] Plants

• Rafflesia

[edit] Animals

• Acanthocephala
• Acarapis woodi
• Candiru (Vampire fish of Brazil)
• Cestoda (tapeworms)
• Clonorchis sinensis (the Chinese liver fluke)
• Cymothoa exigua
• Dracunculiasis (Guinea Worm Disease)
• Enterobius vermicularis
• Oestridae (bot flies)
• Sacculina
• Strongyloides stercoralis

[edit] Fungi

• Ringworm
• Gymnosporangium and other rusts
• Pyrenophora teres
• Cordyceps

[edit] Protists (Protozoa)

• Balantidium coli (the only ciliated protozoan to infect humans)
• Giardia lamblia (the most common intestinal protozoan in the United States)
• Entamoeba histolytica (causes Amebiasis, common in developing countries)
• Kinetoplastid protists of the Trypanosoma and Leishmania genera (sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and leishmania)
• Plasmodium (malarias)

[edit] Fictional endoparasites

• Black Oil
• Facehuggers, the parasite laying stage in the lifecycle of xenomorphs
• The Flood, from the video game Halo
• Goa'uld
• Las Plagas
• Lavos
• Metroids and X Parasites from the Metroid Fusion video game
• Pierson's Puppeteers
• Killer parasitic worms from Slither.
• Trill (Star Trek)
• Yeerks
• Kraata
• Bone Leechs from Blood 2.
• Bulbmin from Pikmin 2.

[edit] Ectoparasites

(ecto = outside; parasites that live on but not within their hosts, for example, attached to their skin)

[edit] Plants

• Broomrape
• Cuscuta
• Mistletoe
• Toothwort
• The wood rose, Dactylanthus taylorii

[edit] Animals

• Acarina (Ticks, some mites)
• many Hippoboscoidea (Tsetse Flies, Sheep Keds, and relatives)
• Hirudinea (some leeches)
• Phthiraptera (Lice)
• Siphonaptera (Fleas)
• Tantulocarida

[edit] Fictional ectoparasites

• Brain slugs from Futurama.
• Headcrabs from the Half-Life series or similar brainsuckers from X-COM: Apocalypse, though these species can be considered parasitoids rather than parasites.
• The Flood from Halo. They come in three different forms: Infection Form, Combat Form, and Carrier Form.
• Krana from the LEGO Bionicle series.
• Nopal from the Jack Vance story Nopalgarth, also called The Brains of Earth.
• Shovel-Creatures, which prey on free thought from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie.