Monoxenous development

A monoxenous life cycle: the amoebozoan protist Entamoeba histolytica and its human definitive host.

Monoxenous development, or monoxeny, characterizes a parasite whose development is restricted to a single host species.[1]

The etymology of the terms monoxeny / monoxenous derives from the two ancient Greek words μόνος (mónos), meaning "unique", and ξένος (xénos), meaning "foreign".[2][3]

In a monoxenous life cycle, the parasitic species may be strictly host specific (using only a single host species, such as gregarines[4]) or not (e.g. Eimeria, Coccidia).

  1. ^ Odening, Klaus (1976-01-20). "Conception and terminology of hosts in parasitology". In Dawes, Ben (ed.). Advances in Parasitology. Vol. 14. Academic Press. p. 23. 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.
  4. ^ Leander, B. S. (1 January 2003). "Phylogeny of gregarines (Apicomplexa) as inferred from small-subunit rDNA and beta-tubulin". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 53 (1): 345–354. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.02284-0. PMID 12656194.