virivorous

English

Etymology

From viri- +‎ -vorous.

Adjective

virivorous (not comparable)

(biology) Involving or sustained by the consumption of viruses.
- 2005, Bettarel et al., “Low consumption of virus-sized particles by heterotrophic nanoflagellates in two lakes of the French Massif Central”, in Aquatic Microbial Ecology, volume 39, number 2, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 205–209:
  It is thus tempting to believe that virivorous organisms, like bacterivorous ones, should be able to optimize their food uptake by exploiting patches of high prey abundances.
- 2011, Bettarel et al., “Ecological traits of planktonic viruses and prokaryotes along a full-salinity gradient”, in FEMS Microbiology Ecology, volume 76, number 2, Oxford University Press, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 360–372:
  The salt-forced extinction of potential virivorous nanoflagellates is a possible explanation, but the ability of these viruses to better resist ambient UV radiations is not unrealistic either.
- 2017, Junger et al., “Salinity Drives the Virioplankton Abundance but Not Production in Tropical Coastal Lagoons”, in Microbial Ecology, volume 75, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 52–63:
  Finally, the higher increase of VA in comparison to HBA in hypersaline systems was probably related to a higher resistance of halophages to environmental virucidal agents and, to a lesser extent, due to a lack of virivorous nanoflagellates or ciliates.
- 2023 January 17, Jasna Hodžić, ““Virivores” discovered: Microbes that survive on a virus-only diet”, in Big Think‎^[1], archived from the original on 2023-01-21:
  If the researchers could prove that the microbes were growing by eating chlorovirus, they would have compelling evidence that these protists can sustain themselves with a virivorous lifestyle.

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