hyperparasite

thumb|A hyperparasitoid wasp (Pteromalidae) on the cocoons of its host, a [[braconid wasp (subfamily Microgastrinae), itself a koinobiont parasitoid of Lepidoptera]] thumb|A hyperparasitic microsporidian, [[Nosema podocotyloidis, a parasite of a digenean, Podocotyloides magnatestis, itself a parasite of the fish Parapristipoma octolineatum]]A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host is itself a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two other insect orders, the Diptera (true flies) and Coleoptera (beetles). Seventeen families in Hymenoptera and a few species of Diptera and Coleoptera are hyperparasitic. Hyperparasitism developed from primary parasitism, which evolved in the Jurassic period in the Hymenoptera. Hyperparasitism intrigues entomologists because of its multidisciplinary relationship to evolution, ecology, behavior, biological control, taxonomy, and mathematical models.

==Examples== thumb|The hyperparasitic monogenean [[Cyclocotyla bellones is found on Ceratothoa parallela, a cymothoid isopod parasite of the sparid fish Boops boops]] The most common examples are insects that lay their eggs inside or near parasitoid larvae, which are themselves parasitizing the tissues of a host, usually the larvae of another insect.