Describing organisms that feed by consuming material from inside another organism, especially from within tissues or cells.
From Greek 'endo-' (within) + 'phagous' (from 'phagos,' meaning eating, the root of 'phage'). This term describes a specific feeding strategy within parasitism.
Many endophagous insects are among nature's most precise biological engineers—parasitic wasps, for example, lay eggs inside living caterpillars, and their larvae actually grow inside the host while keeping it alive, a strategy that makes them perfect natural pest controllers.
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