Best Parasitic

The ghost orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) is a unique white flower native to Florida’s coastal regions. It's notable for its leafless appearance and parasitic relationship with fungi, relying entirely on these hosts for survival. This rare epiphytic orchid exists in small numbers, making it of intere...

The neon cuckoo bee, Thyreus nitidulus, is an Australian bee in the family Apidae, formally described in 1787. Its black body bears conspicuous patches of bright blue hair, producing the spotted appearance reflected in its common name. It is a cleptoparasite: females enter nests made by blue-banded...

Armillaria ostoyae is a species of plant-pathogenic fungus in the family Physalacriaceae, known for causing root rot in coniferous forests. It is famous for producing large networks of subterranean rhizomorphs that can colonize vast areas. A single clone of this species, located in the Malheur Natio...

Indian paintbrush (Castilleja) is a genus of approximately 200 species of hemiparasitic plants native throughout the Americas, from Alaska to South America. These plants attach their roots to those of neighboring plants to obtain water and nutrients, though they also photosynthesize on their own. Th...

Bombus variabilis, the variable cuckoo bumblebee, is a North American social parasite that invades the colonies of other bumblebee species rather than forming its own.

Gooden's nomad bee (Nomada goodeniana) is a European cuckoo bee notable for its distinctive black and yellow wasp-like appearance and its parasitic relationship with mining bees.

*Rafflesia arnoldii* is a parasitic flowering plant native to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. It is distinguished by producing the largest individual flower in the world, which can measure up to one meter in diameter and weigh up to 11 kilograms. The plant lacks leaves, stems, and true roots,...

The Lobster Mushroom is a distinctive edible fungus resulting from a parasitic mold, Hypomyces lactifluorum, colonizing host mushrooms like Russula or Lactarius species. The parasite completely transforms the host's exterior into a rough, reddish-orange surface that resembles a cooked lobster. This...

Carapus bermudensis is a species of pearlfish (family Carapidae) found in tropical waters of Bermuda, the Caribbean, and parts of the western Atlantic. These slender, eel-like fish reach up to 20 cm in length and have a remarkable symbiotic relationship with sea cucumbers, living inside the host's b...

Nomada rufipes, known as the fringed nomad bee, is a Palearctic cleptoparasite distinctive for its red and black abdomen, specifically targeting the nests of heather mining bees.

Nomada fucata, the painted nomad bee, is a Palearctic cuckoo bee species that targets mining bees of the Andrena genus, invading their burrows to lay eggs and steal pollen provisions.

Bombus vestalis, commonly called the vestal cuckoo bumblebee, is a European parasitic bumblebee described by Étienne Louis Geoffroy in Fourcroy's 1785 work. Instead of founding and provisioning its own colony, a female enters the nest of another bumblebee, chiefly the buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus t...

Exaerete frontalis is a large orchid bee in the family Apidae, native to the tropical Americas. It is a cleptoparasitic species: females do not provision their own brood cells but enter nests of certain other orchid bees and lay eggs there, leaving the developing offspring to use provisions gathered...

Bombus rupestris is a European cuckoo bumblebee in the family Apidae and a social parasite primarily associated with the red-tailed bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius. A female enters a host nest and uses its workers to rear her reproductive offspring rather than producing a worker caste of her own. Femal...

The Cuckoo Sweat Bee is a cleptoparasitic insect native to Europe that lacks pollen-collecting structures and is notable for laying its eggs inside the nests of other bees.

Bombus bohemicus, commonly known as the gypsy cuckoo bumblebee, is a parasitic insect native to Eurasia. First described by Seidl in 1837, this species does not build its own nests or collect pollen. Instead, a fertile female usurps the established colony of a host bumblebee species, typically killi...

The corpse lily, or Rafflesia arnoldii, is a parasitic plant species native to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. It lacks visible leaves, stems, and true roots, existing as a thread-like network of tissue entirely within the tissues of its host, the Tetrastigma vine. The plant is renowned for p...

A narcomedusa notable for a parasitic larval stage that develops inside the bells of other medusae such as Turritopsis before becoming free-swimming.

Suckley's cuckoo bumblebee, Bombus suckleyi, is a socially parasitic bumblebee native to North America. Females do not establish colonies or produce a worker caste; instead, they enter colonies of suitable host bumblebees, displace or kill the resident queen, and use the host workers to rear reprodu...

The vestal cuckoo bumblebee, Bombus vestalis, is a socially parasitic species found across much of Europe and neighboring parts of Asia and North Africa. A female enters a colony of the buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, displaces or kills its queen, and induces the remaining workers to rear...

Bombus bohemicus is a cuckoo bumblebee described by Seidl in 1837 and distributed across the Palearctic. It is a social parasite with no worker caste of its own. Instead, mated females infiltrate the colonies of host bumblebees—primarily Bombus terrestris and Bombus lucorum—where they dominate or el...

Armillaria mellea, commonly known as the honey fungus, is a widely distributed basidiomycete mushroom found in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a facultative parasitic species capable of acting as a devastating forest pathogen. The fungus spreads through root systems and black, bootlace-like rhizomorp...

Triepeolus concavus is a cuckoo bee native to North America that is notable for being a kleptoparasite, laying its eggs in the nests of other solitary bees.

The Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus insularis) is a North American social parasite notable for invading the nests of other bumblebee species to reproduce.

The arctic cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus hyperboreus) is a parasitic insect native to the high Arctic, notable because females usurp the nests of other bumblebees to reproduce.

Nomada lathburiana, described in 1802, is a cleptoparasitic cuckoo bee that relies specifically on the nests of the ashy mining bee for the development of its young.

Bombus campestris, described by Panzer in 1801, is a cuckoo bumblebee targeting carder bee nests, with females that mimic the appearance of their hosts.

Bombus sylvestris, described by Lepeletier in 1832, is a cuckoo bumblebee that parasitizes the nests of Bombus pratorum and other early-nesting bumblebees.

Stelis phaeoptera is a cuckoo bee found throughout Europe, distinguished by its parasitic lifecycle where it invades the established nests of mason bees.