spiroplasma

[ spahy-ruh-plaz-muh ]

noun

1. any of numerous bacteria of the genus Spiroplasma that have no cell walls or flagella and are parasitic in plants and arthropods.

Example Sentences

They measured individuals' critical thermal maximum -- the temperature above which an organism cannot function -- as a proxy for heat tolerance and determined the relative intensities of three parasite groups: protozoan parasite trypanosomes, bacterial pathogen Spiroplasma apis and microsporidian parasite Vairimorpha apis.

From Science Daily

That's because the females are infected with a bacterium known as Spiroplasma ixodeti that kills 100 percent of their male offspring.

From Washington Post

Spiroplasma ixodeti is one of many bacteria that commit manslaughter, killing males before their first breaths.

From Washington Post

There is also a plant and insect-parasitic genus called Spiroplasma, whose members, in spite of lacking a cell wall, still manage to form perfect corkscrews.

From Scientific American