Heteroxeny Explained

Heteroxeny, or heteroxenous development, characterizes a parasite whose development involves several host species.^[1] Heteroxeny has been used as the basis for splitting genera.^[2]

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.

The etymology of the terms heteroxeny / heteroxenous derives from the two ancient Greek words, meaning "other, another, different", and, meaning "foreign".^{[3] [4]}

In mycology, the term heteroecious has also been used for parasitic fungi with multiple hosts, and the terms can be used synonymously.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Book: Odening . Klaus . Conception and terminology of hosts in parasitology . Dawes . Ben . 14 . 24–25 . https://books.google.com/books?id=rcRtCavuUYEC&pg=PA24 . Advances in Parasitology . 1976-01-20 . Academic Press . 978-0-08-058060-9 . en.
2. Frenkel . J. K. . Dubey . J. P. . The taxonomic importance of obligate heteroxeny: distinction of Hammondia hammondi from Toxoplasma gondii – another opinion . Parasitology Research . 27 March 2000. 86 . 10 . 783–786 . 10.1007/s004360000261 . 11068808 . 31899029 .
3. Book: Bailly, Anatole . Abrégé du dictionnaire grec français . 1981-01-01 . Hachette . 978-2010035289 . Paris . 461974285 .
4. Web site: Greek-french dictionary online . Bailly . Anatole . www.tabularium.be . May 2, 2020 .
5. Malloch . David . Fungi with heteroxenous life histories. Canadian Journal of Botany. 1995 . 73 . 1334–1342 . 10.1139/b95-395 .