Two ill-explored hypotheses might explain host castration by parasitic pea crabs. The ‘energy drain’ hypothesis states that castration is caused by host-derived nutrient consumption of parasites that ultimately diminishes ...

The prevalence of the parasite Aporobopyrus curtatus in Petrolisthes armatus from southern Brazil was determined, and the effect the parasite had on host reproduction was evaluated. Of all 775 crabs sampled in Araca region ...

Crepipatella dilatata (Calyptraeidae) is a common intertidal or shallow subtidal protandric hermaphroditic gastropod. Intertidal snails from Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina (42°46′37″S, 64°54′51″ W), showed a high prevalence, ...

Bumble bees are some of the most important insect pollinators. However, knowledge on parasites associated to bumble bees in South America is very limited. This study reports the first isolation of a sphaerularid nematode ...

Parasitic castrators utilize the energy reserves that the host allocates on reproduction resulting in sterilization of the host. However, whether other processes (e.g., growth) are also impaired depends on the balance ...

Obligate social parasites, or inquilines, exploit the colonies of free-living social species and evolved at least 80 times in ants alone. Most species of the highly specialized inquiline social parasites are rare, only ...