Sex-based population structure of ectoparasites from Neotropical bats

The structure and composition of populations may be molded by multiple evolutionary and ecological mechanisms, with natural selection affecting sex ratios, as well as the distributions of each sex throughout the environment. To address sex-based aspects of population structure, I evaluated sex ratios, co-occurrence of the sexes, correlations of abundance of the sexes, and dispersion of individuals of each sex for each of 34 host-ectoparasite associations from Paraguayan bats. Of the 34 host-ectoparasite associations, 23 exhibited positive co-occurrence, 27 exhibited positive correlation of abundances, 4 exhibited male sex bias, 1 exhibited female sex bias, 27 had clumped distributions of males, and 26 had clumped distributions of females. No associations exhibited negative co-occurrence, negative correlation of abundance, or hyper-dispersed males or females. There was no evidence for sexual segregation, sex-based niche partitioning, or intrasexual selection in any host-ectoparasite asso...,
Ischnopsyllidae
Number of male and female fleas collected from Paraguayan bats

Nycteribiidae
Number of male and female nycteribiid bat flies collected from Paraguayan bats

Polyctenidae
Number of male and female polyctenid bat bugs collected from Paraguayan bats

Spinturnicidae
Number of male and female spinturnicid mites collected from Paraguayan bats

Streblidae
Number of male and female streblid bat flies collected from Paraguayan bats
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