Ectoparasitic flies of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in urban green areas of northeastern Brazil

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.

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Ectoparasitic flies of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in urban green areas of northeastern Brazil

Cited by 2 publications

References 62 publications

Bat ectoparasites (Diptera: Streblidae and Acari: Spinturnicidae) from an urban area in the Amazon-Cerrado transition

Bat ectoparasites (Diptera: Streblidae and Acari: Spinturnicidae) from an urban area in the Amazon-Cerrado transition

Bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera) and bat flies (Diptera, Streblidae) found in the largest sandstone cave of Brazil

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