spiroplasma

American  

[spahy-ruh-plaz-muh] / ˈspaɪ rəˌplæz mə /

noun

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

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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

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