Typhus

An obligate parasite is a parasitic organism that cannot complete its life cycle without exploiting a suitable host. If an obligate parasite cannot obtain a host it will fail to reproduce. Obligate parasites have evolved a variety of parasitic strategies to exploit their hosts. It might be an external parasite such as a tick, an internal parasite, such as a fluke, or an intracellular parasite, such as Plasmodium. Other types of obligate parasitism include obligate brood parasites, such as the cowbird and cuckoo, which require the nests and parental care of other passerines in order for their young to fledge.

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

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