Hyperparasite
![A hyperparasitic microsporidian, Nosema podocotyloidis, a parasite of a digenean, Podocotyloides magnatestis, which is itself a parasite of the fish Parapristipoma octolineatum [1]](/uploads/202501/19/lossy-page1-220px-Parasite140019-fig4_Nosema_podocotyloidis_-_Hyperparasitic_Microsporidia.tif5556.jpg)
A hyperparasite is a parasite whose host is a parasite. This form of parasitism is especially common among entomophagous parasites. The term is used loosely to refer also to parasitoids whose hosts are parasites or parasitoids; the distinction is not always clear or of interest in practice.