A singular external parasite; any organism that lives as a parasite on the outside of an animal's body.
From Greek 'ekto-' (outside) + 'zoon' (animal); the original singular form from which 'ectozoa' (plural) and related terms derive, used since the early 1800s.
A single tapeworm's head might latch to your intestines (endozoon), but a tick crawling on your skin is an ectozoon—and honestly, the tick's probably more annoying!
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