Fungal hyperparasites can also infect non-fungal hosts. The most common
examples are nematophagous fungi able to parasitize plant-parasitic
nematodes (Zhang et al., 2020). Other than the egg stage,
nematodes are capable of moving through their environments, posing a
challenge to immobile and relatively slow-growing fungal parasites.
However, some parasitic fungi have evolved to infect mobile stages of
nematodes by means of specialized predation structures such as trapping
structures to immobilize nematodes (Jiang et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2020). Many lineages of fungi are known to trap or prey
on parasitic nematodes, such as species of Arthrobotrys, Monacrosporium (Orbiliomycetes: Orbiliales), Drechmeria, Fusarium, Harposporium, Hirsutella (Sordariomycetes: Hypocreales), Nematophthora (Oomycota incertae sedis), Paecilomyces (Eurotiomycetes:
Eurotiales), Pochonia (Sordariomycetes: Hypocreales), Verticillium (Sordariomycetes: Glomerellales), among others
(Siddiqui and Mahmood, 1996).