Parasitism and other Forms of Life

‘Parasites rule’; this is sometimes written on T-shirts and coffee mugs of parasitologists. From the blood-sucking mosquito to the meter-long tapeworm, from the single-celled organism in the intestine to the ichneumon wasp in the butterfly caterpillar, their diversity fascinates biologists, while doctors struggle to combat them. As a dominant life form of nature, parasitism can also fascinate any interested reader and sometimes even horrify them.