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Ectoparasite
An ectoparasite is a parasite that lives outside its host. Both animals and plants can act as ectoparasites. Mistletoe is a common ectoparasite, living on host trees and leeching nutrients directly from them by sending roots into the branches and trunk. Other ectoparasites include mosquitoes and ticks, which live off the bloods of humans and other mammals.
Endoparasite
Endoparasites live inside their host, and further separate into intracellular parasites and intercellular parasites. Intracellular parasites live inside the cells of hosts and include a variety of viruses and bacteria, such as the bacteria that cause malaria. Intercellular endoparasites live outside their host cells and include tapeworms and roundworms.
Social Parasite
A social parasite is a special type of ectoparasite that exploit the social or organizational structure of its host species. Cuckoos, one type of social parasite, will lay their eggs in another bird's nest, then leave the egg. The host bird will raise the cuckoo as if it were her own. Social parasites called kleptoparasites will steal food from their host species. A variety of creatures engages in this type of parasitism, including Amazon ants and frigate birds.
Parasitoid
Parasitoids are organisms that spend a significant portion of their life cycles in a parasitic relationship with a host organism, but parasitoids specifically kill, sterilize or consume the host rather than simply steal nutrients. Parasitoid wasps constitute a large portion of wasp species and lay their eggs directly into a host insect. The offspring of the parasitoid wasp then consume the host after they hatch.