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Bats provide essential ecosystem services and some are cave dependent. Caves favour the association of bats with ectoparasite Diptera, however, they are poorly sampled in the Amazon biome. Here we present the first description of a community of bats and bat flies from the largest sandstone cave in Brazil, the Planaltina cave, located in the municipality of Brasil Novo, state of Pará. Diptera were removed from captured bats and taken to the laboratory for identification. From nine species of bats belonging to four families we recorded 17 species of Diptera, 13 were monoxenous. A possible explanation for the monoxenous parasites collected is that flies have poor survival in unusual hosts. These results are an indicator that the Streblid species are host-specific since even if the hosts take refuge in the same cave, they will not share their parasites. Therefore, the present study provides important information on the parasite-host dynamics in a cave, thus highlighting the importance of cave as are essential shelters for bat species and, despite reported cases of cohabitation, mixed colonies are unlikely to form.

Aim We evaluated the predation interactions between Moenkhausia sanctaefilomenae and periphytic algae, in the presence or absence of an intermediate consumer (zooplankton). We tested the following hypotheses using a microcosms experiment: 1) fish consume zooplankton when available, therefore reducing algae consumption and increasing algal biomass; 2) fish consume the same algal species in the presence or absence of zooplankton; 3) species from the low-profile of the periphytic algal matrix are less consumed; 4) there is no difference in the nestedness of the networks between treatments, but the network in the treatment with zooplankton is modular; 5) the treatment with zooplankton shows higher interaction diversity, evenness and specialization degree. Methods The microcosms were separated in three treatments, control (no herbivores), T1 with periphytic algae and fish, and T2 with periphytic algae, fish and zooplankton. After seven days of experiment, the stomach contents were analyzed and quantified according to the algal profiles of the periphytic matrix. We also used the individual-resource network to investigate the differences in the individuals’ diet preferences between treatments. Results The fish diet did not differ between food webs with zooplankton presence or absence. They fed more on the algal medium profile, which also predominated in the control. The main food items were the diatoms Ulnaria ulna and Achnanthidium minutissimum. The interaction network results showed that the two treatments presented network modularity, and T2 (with zooplankton) presented nested network, in addition to showing greater interaction diversity and evenness, and less specialization of interactions. Conclusions Moenkhausia sanctaefilomenae can take advantage of a more abundant resource, and the presence or not of zooplankton did not alter the herbivory interaction. Considering the individual-resource network patterns, individuals of fish showed differences in how they share resources between treatments, with presence of opportunistic and selective individuals, and distinct distribution and diversity of interactions in the presence of zooplankton.

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