Heteroxeny

Heteroxeny, or heteroxenous development, characterizes a parasite whose development involves several host species.[1]

Not to be confused with the Heteroxenia genus of corals.
A dixenous life cycle: the apicomplexan parasitic protist Babesia microti and its two different taxonomic hosts, the deer tick and the white-footed mouse.

When there are two or three hosts, the development cycle is named diheteroxenous or triheteroxenous, respectively. More ambiguously, these terms are sometimes synonymized as dixenous or trixenous.[1]

The etymology of the terms heteroxeny / heteroxenous derives from the two ancient Greek words ἕτερος (héteros), meaning "other, another, different", and ξένος (xénos), meaning "foreign".[2][3]

References
  1. Odening, Klaus (1976-01-20). "Conception and terminology of hosts in parasitology". In Dawes, Ben (ed.). Advances in Parasitology. 14. Academic Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0-08-058060-9.
  2. Bailly, Anatole (1981-01-01). Abrégé du dictionnaire grec français. Paris: Hachette. ISBN 978-2010035289. OCLC 461974285.
  3. Bailly, Anatole. "Greek-french dictionary online". www.tabularium.be. Retrieved May 2, 2020.


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