The present paper comprises a systematic survey of the chigger mites (Acarina: Leeuwenhoekiidae) collected from bats and bat guano in Cuban caves in 1965-1985. Wagenaaria similis is recorded for the first time in Cuba. The first hosts known for Ischnothrombium diploctenum are noted. Antrohoekia inexpectala, g.n., sp. n., a parasite of bats, is described.
The community composition and structure of helminths of Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber, 1774) from two widely separated Spanish localities, El Saler (n = 42) and the San Pedro pothole (n = 34), were determined and compared. Five species of trematodes, Plagiorchis (Plagiorchis) sp., Lecithodendrium (Lecithodendrium) linstowi Dollfus, 1931, Prosthodendrium (Prosthodendrium) sp., Pycnoporus heteroporus (Dujardin, 1845) and Parabascus semisquamosus (Braun, 1900), and one species of cestode, Hymenolepis pipistrelli López-Neyra, 1941, were found. The two bat populations harboured the same helminth species and showed the same trematode dominance, but the most important differences between the two helminth community structures were attributable to L. (L.) linstowi and H. pipistrelli. The mean species richness in the two localities was not significantly different. The mean number of helminth species per infected bat, mean infracommunity abundance and mean infracommunity diversity showed significant differences between both localities. The number of helminths per bat in both populations displayed an aggregated distribution. Results indicate that the different characteristics of the P. pipistrellus foraging area in both localities are important in determining the composition and structure of helminth communities in this bat species. This is the first study of a Palaearctic bat helminth community.
We analysed and compared the structure and parameters of the songflight calls of expansive Pipistrellus kuhlii and Pipistrellus lepidus, that recently colonized Central Europe from the south and east, respectively. Bat calls were recorded mainly in urban areas of Central Europe and the Balkans, including a narrow zone of these species' recent parapatric or sympatric occurrence (around the Carpathians and the eastern part of the Pannonian Basin). The newly described songflight calls of P. lepidus consist of more elements (median 6), are longer (mean 56.4 ms) and of a higher frequency of maximum energy (mean 25.7 kHz) than those of P. kuhlii (median 3, mean 41.0 ms and mean 14.0 kHz, respectively). This finding provides new evidence that P. lepidus represents a different species, in accordance with results from previous genetic and morphological studies. Reported differences in songflight calls permit the acoustic discrimination of P. kuhlii and P. lepidus, which is not possible based on overlapping parameters of their echolocation calls. Our findings enable distributional and ecological studies of these two species, based on acoustic methods, in the context of their rapid European expansion and the local co-occurrence.
Czech White-Nose Syndrome Team together with international collaborators discovered mechanisms of tolerance that protect Palearctic bats from white-nose syndrome (WNS), the disease that caused mass die-off in North America. The discovery raises hope for a better future of bats in North American ecosystems. White-nose syndrome (WNS) is caused by a generalist pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans with the worst possible characteristics of an infectious fungal agent. The generalist nature of the WNS fungus means that it can infect any bat hibernating in a contaminated cave or mine and, moreover, it may remain viable and virulent, waiting for its hosts until the next hibernation period. Harmless to humans, the WNS fungus kills hibernating North American bats in winter. However, loss of voracious insectivorous bats from agricultural ecosystems may result in economic costs required for increased pest control. Without mass die-offs of bats harbouring the WNS agent in Europe, the response to disease is an enigma. To study the survival crossroads, the Czech WNS Team focused on the relationship between pathogen quantity and disease under natural conditions. High disease prevalence together with high fungal loads in absence of bat population declines in Eurasia indicates disease tolerance mechanisms, where hosts limit harm inflicted by the pathogen but do not hinder its growth. The tolerance mechanisms revealed by the Czech WNS Team is a function of bat adaptation to the presence of the pathogen. and Natália Martínková.
Potorolepis gulyaevi sp. n. (Cestoda: Hymenolepididae) is described from the Chinese horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus sinicus Andersen (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae), from southern China. The new species differs from known species of the genus by the shape, number and size of rostellar hooks, the relative position and length of the cirrus-sac and the morphology of gravid uterus. This is the first report of a member of the genus from non-marsupial mammals and the first record of a Potorolepis Spassky, 1994 from eastern Asia. The generic diagnosis of Potorolepis is amended.
Physaloptera brevivaginata has been found parasitising the stomach of two species of bats of the family Vesperti-lionidae, Myotis myotis and Myotis blythii, in Spain. A comparative study of the prevalences and mean intensities of parasitism by this physalopterid revealed no statistically significant differences between the two hosts. Likewise, no relationship was found between parasite intensity and host body weight. The histopathological study of the stomach lesion revealed destruction of the mucosa, with degeneration of the gastric glands, loss of the muscularis mucosae and focal necrosis at the points where the cephalic extremities of both sexes of this nematode attach to the mucosa. The present paper is the first study of gastric pathology caused by an adult physalopterid in bats.
Host-parasite relationships between the Daubenton's bat, Myotis daubentonii Kuhl, 1817 (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), and its haematophagous ectoparasite, the mite Spinturnix andegavinus Kolenati, 1857 (Acari: Spinturnicidae), were subjected to analyses based on data gathered during a six-year study (1999-2004) within a single study area in South Bohemia, Czech Republic. Seven hundred and fifty-one Daubenton's bats were examined by screening wing membranes with an intensive light source, resulting in 4,690 recorded mites. Sex, age, weight and reproductive state were evaluated for each bat. A body condition index was calculated as a ratio of weight to forearm length. The seasonal course of mite infestation displayed distinct dynamics with the peak during the lactation and post-lactation periods coinciding with occurrence of the most numerous colonies of Daubenton's bats in the study area. Infestation rates differed between the two sexes, being higher in adult females than adult males. Juvenile bats of both sexes (with no differences between males and females) were the most infested group of all. Pregnant females had a significantly higher parasite load than non-pregnant ones, while no differences in infestation rates were found between lactating and non-lactating females. The analyses of the relationship between parasite load and body condition of bats revealed no common trends for all sex- and age-related groups. Two possible explanations are suggested and discussed: (1) There is no true relationship between the two tested variables and, thus, the significant results were attained due to a random statistical effect. (2) Different underlying causal mechanisms may exist that influence parasite load and, especially, body condition, with respect to the particular sex and age category of bats. The seasonal roosting dynamics of the Daubenton's bat are suggested to be the result not only of changing energetic demands of resident population members, but also of coevolutionary strategies within host-parasite relationships.