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Thanatophages, are olophages that obtain nutrients by consuming decomposing dead plant biomass.
Contents
Ecology
In food webs, thanatophages generally play the roles of decomposers.
The eating of wood, whether live or dead, is known as xylophagy. Τhe activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous.
Saprophytes
Saprophyte (-phyte meaning "plant") is a botanical term that is no longer in popular use. There are no real saprotrophic organisms that are embryophytes, and fungi and bacteria are no longer placed in the plant kingdom. Plants that were once considered saprophytes, such as non-photosynthetic orchids and monotropes, are now known to be parasites on fungi. These species are now termed myco-heterotrophs.
References
Thanatophage Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA