virovore

English

Alternative forms

• virivore

Etymology

From viro- +‎ -vore.

Noun

virovore (plural virovores)

1. (biology, ecology, virology) An organism whose diet is primarily composed of viruses
   • 2020 September 24, Katherine J. Wu, “Nothing Eats Viruses, Right? Meet Some Hungry Protists”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Curtis Suttle, a microbial ecologist who led several early studies on protists that might eat viruses, said his team’s unpublished experiments suggested that certain choanozoa could be die-hard virovores, too.

2. (by extension) An organism which deliberately eats viruses.

Coordinate terms

• carnivore
• granivore
• herbivore
• insectivore
• omnivore

 

Related terms

• virivorous
• virivory
• virovory

 

See also

• virophage