Bat parasites (Acari, Anoplura, Cestoda, Diptera, Hemiptera, Nematoda, Siphonaptera, Trematoda) in France (1762–2018): a literature review and contribution to a checklist

Abstract

This paper is a bibliographical survey of records of bat parasites in France (including Corsica) between 1762 and 2018. In total, 237 scientific publications were analysed. They show that bats are infected with a large diversity of endoparasites and ectoparasites. A total of 113 parasite taxa were identified from 27 host species; in addition, six bats were not identified to the species-level. The helminth fauna of bats comprises three species of Cestoda, 15 of Trematoda, and 13 of Nematoda. Acari parasites include 53 species (in addition to 22 invalid species). Finally, insect parasites comprise 13 species of Diptera (bat flies), 12 of Siphonaptera (fleas), 3 of Hemiptera (bugs), and 1 Anoplura species. Bat taxa reported with parasites were Barbastella barbastellus, Eptesicus serotinus, Hypsugo savii, Miniopterus schreibersii, Myotis bechsteinii, M. blythii, M. capaccinii, M. dasycneme, M. daubentonii, M. emarginatus, M. myotis, M. mystacinus, M. nattereri, M. punicus, Nyctalus lasiopterus, N. leisleri, N. noctula, Pipistrellus kuhlii, P. nathusii, P. pipistrellus, Plecotus auritus, P. austriacus, Rhinolophus euryale, R. ferrumequinum, R. hipposideros, R. mehelyi, Tadarida teniotis, Eptesicus sp., Myotis sp., Pipistrellus sp., Plecotus sp., Rhinolophus sp. and the species complex Pipistrellus pipistrellus/kuhlii/nathusii. As regards E. nilssonii, Vespertilio murinus (Particoloured Bat), M. alcathoe, M. escalerai, P. macrobullaris and P. pygmaeus, no records were found. These published field data originated from 72 of the 96 departments in metropolitan France. The most commonly cited were Ardèche, Ariège, Bouches-du-Rhône, Haute-Savoie, Maine-et-Loire, Moselle, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Pyrénées-Orientales, Sarthe, Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.

Type of Material, Not Tree Hole Characteristics Shapes Uropodina Mites’ Species Composition in Excavated Tree Holes

“…Their deutonymphs do not exhibit any adaptations to phoresis, nor have they ever been observed on insects or myriapods. They are also unlikely to be carried by bats, as research on the mites they carry has been fairly extensive, including research on the common noctule analysed in this study, as, so far, their presence has not been observed [44][45][46][47][48]. Consequently, deutonymphs are most likely carried by birds, especially since the specific structure of the barbs allows the deutonymphs to 'hook' onto feathers.…”

Case report: Filarial infection of a parti-coloured bat: Litomosa sp. adult worms in abdominal cavity and microfilariae in bat semen

“…However, while hundreds of nematodes have been described in bats (2), their biology, life cycles and host-parasite specificity and interactions remain largely unknown (3). Onchocercid filarial nematodes, and especially the genera Litomosa and Litomosoides, occur relatively frequently in both Old World and Nearctic and Neotropical bats of the families Hipposideridae, Miniopteridae, Molossidae, Phyllostomidae, Pteropidae, Rhinolophidae and Vespertilionidae (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). Adult Litomosa and Litomosoides generally reside within the pleural and/or peritoneal cavities of bats; however, cerebral ventricles (14) or the pulmonary artery, the right ventricle of the heart and the portal vein (9), may also be favoured sites for some adult onchocercid filariae.…”