High Specificity and Aggregation, But Low Prevalence in Bat-Fly Interactions in an Environmental Protection Area in Brazil

A Five-Year Study on Infestation and Abundance of Bat Flies (Hippoboscoidea: Streblidae) Under Severe Dry Season Conditions in the Tropical Dry Forest of Yucatan, Mexico

“…The high aggregation (D) values suggest that most bat fly species in the dry season parasitize few hosts. Previous studies show that high aggregation values translate to most ectoparasites occurring together rather than individually (Barbier and Graciolli 2016 ; Barbier et al 2019 ), and there is evidence to indicate that host attributes, home range, root size and complexity, immunocompetence, and social structure all influence parasite aggregation (Presley 2011 ).…”

“…Except for Artibeus phaeotis (Miller), most host bat species of n > 8 were infested. It appears that the frequency of infestation is higher in host species with high abundances (Wenzel et al 1966 ; Barbier and Graciolli 2016 ; Barbier et al 2019 ). We recorded high infestation in A. jamaicensis and P. parnellii .…”

“…However, few studies have focused on analyzing the influence of environmental conditions, such as temperature and precipitation, on bat flies. While some studies suggest a lack of association between the quantity of precipitation and the abundance of ectoparasites (Barbier et al 2019 ), others indicate a strong influence of climate conditions or environmental differences on species composition and bat fly load (Pilosof et al 2012 ; Patrício et al 2016 ; Zarazúa-Carbajal et al 2016 ; Eriksson et al 2020 ; Colín-Martínez et al 2018 ). Some studies have shown that seasonality and microclimatic variations in temperature generate a disparity of response in terms of parasite load parameters in different host species (Pilosof et al 2012 ; Tlapaya-Romero et al 2021 ).…”