Question

What is a relationship in which one parasite feeds on another parasite which in turn feeds on its host called?

(a) Pathogen

(b) Vector

(c) Vehicle

(d) Epi-parasite

The question was posed to me in an interview for internship.

Enquiry is from Population Interactions-2 topic in portion Organisms and Populations of Biology – Class 12

Answer 1

The correct choice is (d) Epi-parasite

To explain I would say: A relationship in which one parasite feeds on another parasite which in turn feed on its host is called epi-parasite. These are also known as secondary or hyper parasites. An example is a bacterium in an insect’s gut that feeds on cattle.