Characterization of Desmodus rotundus (E. Geoffroy, 1810) (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) shelters in the Municipality of São Pedro - SP

Pj Mialhe

doi:10.1590/s1519-69842013000300009

Abstract

Surveillance of hematophagous bats is an important public health measure for the prevention and control of rabies epidemics in domestic herbivorous animals. The aim of this study was to locate and georeference D.rotundus shelters in the Municipality of São Pedro - SP, Brazil, and verify their nature (artificial or natural), surrounding landscape and distance from main rivers. To do this, two samples were taken of populations in shelters, with an interval of six months between them, capturing all the bats existent in shelters with fewer than 20 individuals and approximately 20% of the bats present in shelters with over 20 individuals in order to quantify their gender and age distribution. The majority of D. rotundus (67%) were verified to be artificial and the remainder (33%) natural. Of the six artificial shelters found, five were located in abandoned houses and one in a rain water drainage channel. There were no signs of D. rotundus in other rural buildings and viaducts located in the proximities of pastures. In spite of the majority of D. rotundus shelters being artificial, the three most populated shelters were maternity colonies, two being located in grottos and only one in an artificial shelter (rain water drainage channel). The remaining shelters were occupied by only male individuals. With the exception of one shelter, all the other shelters were at a distance of less than 3 km from the main bodies of water in the study area, corroborating studies that have reported that the main rivers in the State of São Paulo are the main geographic features related to the presence of D. rotundus. It was also verified that 67% of the shelters were inhabited by only male individuals, which confirms other studies conducted in the State of São Paulo, in which over 60% of the groups of Desmodus contain only male individuals.

Highlights

Desmodus rotundus, the common vampire bat, is widely distributed throughout the New World, and occurs from the North of Mexico through to the North of Argentina (MacNab,1973; Greenhall et al, 1983; Koopman, 1988) being the most abundant species of hematophagous bat found in these regions
Due to bats’ habit of agglomerating, in shelters were there were large numbers of Desmodus rotundus, a visual calculation was made of the number of bats in a square meter, and this number was multiplied by the total area occupied by the bats, obtaining the final result
During the period from December 2001 to October 2002, 21 bat shelters were located in the Municipality of São Pedro, SP, of which 18 (86%) were artificial and the remaining three (14%) natural shelters

Summary

Introduction

Desmodus rotundus , the common vampire bat, is widely distributed throughout the New World, and occurs from the North of Mexico through to the North of Argentina (MacNab ,1973; Greenhall et al, 1983; Koopman, 1988) being the most abundant species of hematophagous bat found in these regions. This species may cause great losses to the cattle raising industry in Latin America, because of its role in rabies transmission in herbivorous species (Greenhall et al, 1983; Acha & Málaga-Alba,1988). Larger colonies (of around 300 individuals) have been observed by Sazima (1978) and Taddei et al (1991) for the State of São Paulo and by Bredt et al (1999), for the Federal District region

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion