1. reproduction or development involving two distinct generations or phases, especially in parasitic organisms that alternate between different hosts.
Usage: biology; parasitology

Examples

• The tapeworm exhibits digenesis, requiring both an intermediate host and a final host to complete its life cycle.
• Digenesis is common in parasitic flatworms that must infect multiple organisms to reproduce.
• The study of digenesis helps parasitologists understand how diseases spread through different host populations.
• Many trematodes rely on digenesis, alternating between aquatic snails and vertebrate hosts.