Abstract
AbstractWe investigated density dynamics of three bat flies species (Diptera, Nycteribiidae):Penicillidia monocerosSpeiser, 1900,Nycteribia quasiocellata(Theodor, 1966),Basilia rybini(Hurka, 1969) parasitized on two host species: pond bat,Myotis dasycneme(Boie, 1825), and eastern water bat,Myotis petaxHollister, 1912. Females ofM. dasycnemehave 3.4 (95 % CI 1.4–8.3) times higher odds of being infested, and in 2.4 (1.5–3.7) times higher average number ofP. monocerosthan males. Similarly, females ofM. petaxhave 1.7 (1.2–2.4) times higher density ofN. quasiocellataand/orB. rybini. We hypothesized an existence of host-sex-recognition mechanism in bat flies, providing it fine “ecological profit” due to sex-biased dispersal among adult host during wintering and the chance to infested a host offspring later (in summer). The decrease (due to mortality or emigration) in density of bat flies can be described as simple harmonic or S-shaped curve, and its “step” apparently corresponds to time of host pairing.
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