Bat fly (Diptera: Streblidae) and common vampire bat (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) association in Honduras: prevalence, mean intensity, infracommunities and influence of the biological characteristics of the host

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.

摘要 蝙蝠类群具有一系列使其易遭受寄生的特征。蝠蝇（Streblidae科）是专性寄生于蝙蝠的吸血外寄生虫。本研究旨在探究洪都拉斯境内普通吸血蝠（Desmodus rotundus，É. Geoffroy, 1810）与蝠蝇的寄生关联，分析宿主的性别与年龄对寄生情况的影响。研究在海拔50至995米范围内的6个省的8个采样点开展，野外数据采集于2018年5月至2019年11月期间，共捕获80只宿主个体，从中采集到395只蝠蝇。本次研究共记录到4种蝠蝇：斯氏蝠蝇（Strebla wiedemanni Kolenati, 1856）、寄生毛翼蝠蝇（Trichobius parasiticus Gervais, 1844）、乔氏毛翼蝠蝇（T. joblingi Wenzel, 1966）以及盲毛翼蝠蝇（T. caecus Edwards, 1948）。其中寄生毛翼蝠蝇的感染率与平均感染强度最高，其次为斯氏蝠蝇。乔氏毛翼蝠蝇与盲毛翼蝠蝇为洪都拉斯境内普通吸血蝠的寄生新纪录，但我们认为二者属于偶然寄生关系。本次研究记录到6类寄生亚群落，其感染宿主占总采样宿主的85%。所有蝠蝇物种的感染率与平均感染强度均不受宿主性别与年龄的影响。