A Faunal Survey of Streblid Flies (Diptera: Streblidae) Associated With Bats in Paraguay

Abstract

An extensive survey of the ectoparasites infesting bats in Paraguay provides information regarding the taxonomy and host distribution of streblid bat flies at a geographic interface between subtropical and temperate habitats. Five families of bats representing 45 species, including Molossidae (5 genera and 15 species), Natalidae (1 genus and 1 species), Phyllostomidae (11 genera and 15 species), Noctilionidae (1 genus and 2 species), and Vespertilionidae (4 genera and 12 species) were collected from 24 localities across Paraguay and sampled for ectoparasites. In total, 2,467 bat flies were collected, representing 11 genera and 31 nominal species of Streblidae, of which 6 genera and 24 species are new records for Paraguay. No streblids were collected from vespertilionid bats; 23 species infested phyllostomids, 6 species noctilionids, 1 species a natalid, and 1 species molossids. Streblid bat flies were highly specific to certain host groups and individual host species, and their geographic distributions closely followed those of their host bats. Of 31 streblid species surveyed, 27 were monoxenous (i.e., associated with a single host species), and 4 were stenoxenous (i.e., associated with a group of phylogenetically related hosts). The number of streblid species is greatly reduced in the Chaco region west of the Paraguay River, largely because of the lack of phyllostomid host bats. Streblid flies are obligate, blood-feeding ectoparasites of bats. In temperate North America, they primarily infest vespertilionid bats (Wenzel, 1970; Guerrero, 1994), and a few species over winter on hibernating bats (Zeve, 1958; Reisen et al., 1976). However, in Central and South America, the species richness of these flies is increased, primarily in association with phyl lostomid bats (Wenzel, 1970). The most important previous studies regarding the taxonomy and distribution of neotropical Streblidae were based on faunal surveys in Panama (Wenzel et al., 1966) and Venezuela (Wenzel, 1976). During those studies, 10 new genera and 94 new species were described, and the taxonomic foundation of New World Streblidae was estab lished. However, very little is known about the distribution and host associations of streblid flies infesting bats in the subtrop ical and temperate regions of South America. From 1991 to 1997, bats of the Yungas Forests in Argentina were surveyed for ectoparasites (Autino et al., 1999). Although 37 bat species are known from this region, which includes sites in the Argen tine provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Tucuman, and Catamarca, only 7 species of streblids were reported (Autino et al., 1999). In southern Brazil, 23 species are known from the state of Paran? (Graciolli and de Carvalho, 2001) and 11 species from the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Graciolli and Rui, 2001). An extensive, 5-yr survey of ectoparasites infesting bats in Paraguay provided the opportunity to increase our understanding about the distri bution of streblid bat flies across hosts and habitats at the in terface of subtropical and temperate zones. Parag...

Ectoparasitic insects (Diptera: Streblidae and Siphonaptera: Ischnopsyllidae) of bats from Iquitos and surrounding areas (Loreto, Peru)

“…Graciolli and Dick (2004) also considered M. pseudopterus as oligoxenous, with the primary hosts being Artibeus jamaicensis Leach, Artibeus fimbriatus Gray and Artibeus planirostris (Spix). S. curvata, recorded as monoxenous, was usually found on bats of the genus Glossophaga (Wenzel 1976, Dick & Gettinger 2005), but we collected this species on a specimen of Carollia brevicauda (Schinz). S. wiedemanni Kolenati was found parasitising several species of bats (Marinkelle & Grose 1981, Guerrero 1996b, Graciolli & Carvalho 2001, Rios et al 2008, Rojas et al 2008), but we only found it on Desmodus rotundus (É. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire) (monoxenous), which is considered its primary host (Aguiar & Antonini 2011).…”

Descriptive ecology of bat flies (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea) associated with vampire bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in the cerrado of Central Brazil

“…S. mirabilis is found from Mexico to Paraguay and, in Brazil, its presence has been recorded in the states of Pará (PA), Paraná (PR), Rio de Janeiro and FD (Graciolli et al 2008). In a broad study conducted in Paraguay, Dick and Gettinger 2005 had found that the specificity of Strehad found that the specificity of Stre- (Guerrero 1996, Graciolli & Carvalho 2001a.…”

“…It is also possible that the two parasite species show a preference for each one of the bat hosts, but this result may be only a statistical artefact. Nonetheless, Dick and Gettinger (2005) remark that in Paraguay D. rotundus and D. youngi were not hosts to T. furman, and they cite in suggesting that T. furmani is replaced by T. parasiticus in some parts of South America. These two observations may corroborate our hypothesis of competition between these two parasitic species, but further studies must be conducted to clarify the relationship between these two bat fly species.…”

Bat flies from the deciduous Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil: Host-parasite relationships and parasitism rates

“…The geographical range of their hosts is a main factor explaining the diversity of bat flies (Marshall 1982, Gannon and Willig 1995, Dick and Gettinger 2005. The host-parasite relationships observed in the families Streblidae and Nycteribiidae may be related to the biogeographical history of the region, to the lack of specificity of some bat fly species, and to the wide geographical ranges of their hosts, impelling oligoxenous bat flies (Megistopoda aranea, for example) to adapt to the regional host fauna (Rui and Graciolli 2005).…”