Parasitism evolved at least 223 times, far more than the previous estimate of 60. It arose more times in certain phyla (e.g., arthropods, nematodes, flatworms, and mollusks) than in others. Today, ...

Members of the vertebrate group including anglerfishes are unique in possessing a characteristic known as sexual parasitism, in which males temporarily attach or permanently fuse with females to mate.

Many animal species add their eggs to the brood of other species to benefit from the latter’s brood care. This is called brood parasitism. Researchers recently studied brood parasitism in two ...

The parasitic wasp Dinocampus coccinellae is no fool. It controls a ladybug, lays an egg in its abdomen and turns it into the bodyguard of its cocoon. This surprising host-parasite manipulation has ...

Conspecific brood parasitism (CBP), whereby females lay eggs in the nests of other conspecifics, occurs in over 200 species of birds. As an alternative tactic to typical nesting, CBP expands and ...

Scroungers and parasites seem to show up in nature wherever life produces something useful, and that includes parental care. Among birds, for example, the practice of laying eggs in other birds’ nests ...

Distinguished by its unusual morphology and a reproductive system based on something called "sexual parasitism," the anglerfish represents a study in how life adapts to severe environmental ...

The phenomenon of intraspecific germ cell parasitism may reveal a theoretical puzzle to the concept of Darwinian selection. In natural chimeras of the colonial protochordate Botryllus schlosseri, ...

Using insects such as wasps to control agricultural pests remains a resilient method, despite increasing resistance, a new ...