heteroxeny
{{short description|Several-host parasitic lifestyle}}
{{Distinguish|text=the Heteroxenia genus of corals}}
File:Babesia_microti_life_cycle_en.svg and its two different taxonomic hosts, the deer tick and the white-footed mouse.]]
Heteroxeny, or heteroxenous development, characterizes a parasite whose development involves several host species.{{Cite book |last1=Odening |first1=Klaus |chapter=Conception and terminology of hosts in parasitology |editor1-last=Dawes |editor1-first=Ben |volume=14 |pages=24–25 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rcRtCavuUYEC&pg=PA24 |title=Advances in Parasitology |date=1976-01-20 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-08-058060-9 |language=en}} Heteroxeny has been used as the basis for splitting genera.{{cite journal | last1= Frenkel | first1= J. K. | last2 = Dubey | first2 = J. P. | title = The taxonomic importance of obligate heteroxeny: distinction of Hammondia hammondi from Toxoplasma gondii – another opinion | journal = Parasitology Research | url = https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs004360000261.pdf | date = 27 March 2000| volume= 86 | issue= 10 | pages= 783–786 | doi= 10.1007/s004360000261 | pmid= 11068808 | s2cid= 31899029 }}
When there are two or three hosts, the development cycle is named diheteroxenous or triheteroxenous, respectively. More ambiguously, these terms are sometimes synonymized as dixenous or trixenous.
The etymology of the terms heteroxeny / heteroxenous derives from the two ancient Greek words {{wikt-lang|grc|ἕτερος}} ({{grc-transl|ἕτερος}}), meaning "other, another, different", and {{wikt-lang|grc|ξένος}} ({{grc-transl|ξένος}}), meaning "foreign".{{Cite book |title=Abrégé du dictionnaire grec français |last=Bailly |first=Anatole |date=1981-01-01 |publisher=Hachette |isbn=978-2010035289 |location=Paris |oclc=461974285 }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.tabularium.be/bailly/ |title=Greek-french dictionary online |last=Bailly |first=Anatole |date= |website=www.tabularium.be |publisher= |access-date=May 2, 2020 }}
In mycology, the term heteroecious has also been used for parasitic fungi with multiple hosts, and the terms can be used synonymously.{{cite journal | last = Malloch | first = David | title = Fungi with heteroxenous life histories| journal = Canadian Journal of Botany| date = 1995 | volume = 73 | pages = 1334–1342 | doi = 10.1139/b95-395 | url = https://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b95-395| url-access = subscription }}