virivorous

Adjective

virivorous (not comparable)

1. Involving or sustained by the consumption of viruses.
   • 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.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...
   • 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.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...