definitive host
- noun
- /dɪˈfɪnɪtɪv hoʊst/
- Specialized
:
huésped definitivo
- The life cycle is completed when a definitive host (usually canid) preys on an infected intermediate host (mostly rodent).
- the definitive host is a cat
Examples
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For many parasites, the definitive host is essential for their sexual reproduction cycle to occur.
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Warm-blooded animals are intermediate hosts, and cats are the definitive hosts.
Academic text (2006) -
They do not, however, consume the organs from hunted pacas; instead, they typically feed the viscera to their dogs, which might become definitive hosts.
Academic text (2015) -
Science has established that wolves are definitive hosts of this parasite; additionally, science has established that 50% of wolves tested in Yellowstone National Park are carriers of Neospora caninum.
Blog text (20) -
The adult tapeworm thrives in the intestines of its definitive host, which is often a cat or dog.
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Researchers found that the opossum is the only known definitive host for the parasite Sarcocystis neurona.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Combining 'definitive' (final, conclusive) with 'host' (an organism that harbours parasites) gives a plausible clue that this is the 'final' or main organism in a parasite's life cycle, so a B1 learner could infer a primary/last host. However, the precise technical sense — that it is specifically the host in which the parasite undergoes sexual reproduction — is domain-specific and not directly predictable from the general meanings, making the term only partially transparent.
Etymology
Definitive host names the animal that is the parasite's 'final home' where the parasite becomes an 'adult' and 'reproduces', and that animal is the host. That's why definitive host means the animal in which a parasite completes the sexual part of its life.
