Abstract
Bat species present a series of attributes that makes them prone to being parasitized. Bat flies (Streblidae) are hematophagous ectoparasites exclusive to bats. Our study aimed to investigate the association of bat flies with the Common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus (É. Geoffroy, 1810), in Honduras. We analyzed the effect of sex and age of the host on parasitism. Eight localities belonging to six departments were sampled in an altitudinal range between 50 and 995 m. Field data were obtained between May 2018 to November 2019 and 80 individuals were captured, from which 395 bat flies were extracted. Four species of bat flies were registered: Strebla wiedemanni Kolenati, 1856, Trichobius parasiticus Gervais, 1844, T. joblingi Wenzel, 1966 and T. caecus Edwards, 1948. Trichobius parasiticus presented the highest prevalence and mean intensity, followed by S. wiedemanni. Trichobius joblingi and T. caecus are new records of parasitism on D. rotundus for Honduras, although we consider as an accidental association. We recorded six types of infracommunities that parasitized 85% of the hosts. The prevalence and mean intensity was not affected by age and sex of the host for any bat fly species.
Highlights
In the Neotropical region, bat flies (Nycteribiidae and Streblidae) are the most conspicuous and well studied ectoparasites of bats (Haelewaters et al 2018)
The highest prevalence value of the hosts was 72.50% provided by T. parasiticus, followed by S. wiedemanni with 25%
We found four species of bat flies on D. rotundus from different regions of Honduras
Summary
In the Neotropical region, bat flies (Nycteribiidae and Streblidae) are the most conspicuous and well studied ectoparasites of bats (Haelewaters et al 2018). They are obligate ectoparasites exclusively associated with bats that live in the fur and on the membranes of their hosts, where they feed on blood (Dick et al 2016). In Honduras, 48 species, 17 genera of Streblidae are known (Dick 2013, Miller 2014, Graciolli et al 2021)
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