Obligate parasite

An obligate parasite is a parasitic organism that cannot complete its life cycle without exploiting a suitable host. It might be an external parasite such as a tick, an internal parasite, such as a fluke, or an intracellular parasite, such as Plasmodium. If an obligate parasite cannot obtain a host it will fail to reproduce.

References

• Serge, Morand. et al. (1996). "Body size evolution of oxyurid (Nematoda) parasites: the role of hosts". Oecologia 107 (2): 274–282. doi:10.1007/BF00327912. 
• Lenoir, A. et al. (2001). "Chemical ecology and social parasitism in ants". Annual Review of Entomology 46 (1): 573–599. doi:10.1146/annurev.ento.46.1.573. PMID 11112180. 
• Trontti, Kalevi, Aron, Serge and Sundström, Liselotte (2006). "The genetic population structure of the ant Plagiolepis xene - implications for genetic vulnerability of obligate social parasites". Conservation Genetics 7 (2): 241–250. doi:10.1007/s10592-005-9003-y. 

See also

• Facultative parasite
• Obligate intracellular parasite
• Parasitic plant
• Parasitoid
• Parasitism