Space Use and Social Mating System of the Hantavirus Host, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus

Abstract

The long-tailed mouse, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae), is the major host of Andes hantavirus, the etiological agent of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in the south of Argentina and Chile. Studying the ecology of this species is necessary to understand how Andes hantavirus is maintained in nature. In this study, we examine the home range size and intra- and intersexual overlap degree of male and female O. longicaudatus in order to elucidate the mating system of this species. To our knowledge, this research provides the first documentation, obtained from a specific design, of spacing and mating systems in this species in Argentina. The study was conducted seasonally from April (autumn) 2012 to October (spring) 2013 in a shrubland habitat of Cholila, Andean region, Argentina. We studied spacing patterns using 59 and 51 home ranges established by adult males and females, respectively, in two 3.24 ha capture-marked and recapture grids. Significant differences between sexes in home range size and overlap degree were found. Male home ranges were always larger than those of females. We observed exclusive space use both among males and females (13.15 ± 18.67, and 3.60 ± 3.43%, respectively). Considering only those males that get access to receptive females (40%), average intersexual overlap value was about 30.82 ± 19.73%. Sexual differences in home range sizes and the spatial avoidance between breeding males, that would reflect intrasexual competition for receptive females, allows us to propose a polygynous mating system for O. longicaudatus.

New data about home range and movements of Oligoryzomys flavescens (Rodentia: Cricetidae) help to understand the spread and transmission of Andes virus that causes Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome

“…This maximum home range was two times wider than that for the long‐tailed pygmy rice rat Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, reservoir of the South genotype of ANDV, endemic from the Andean region of Patagonia . O. longicaudatus has home ranges between 0.02 and 0.95 ha during spring (Juan, Provensal, & Steinmann, ). The observed difference between species could be due to morphologic features of these two different species and also to different methodologies used.…”

A 19 Year Analysis of Small Mammals Associated with Human Hantavirus Cases in Chile

“…However, the frequency of seropositive females found across several studies is evidence that they may play a more important role than the one currently recognized. Space use and social mating system may contribute to reveal the factors maintaining the virus in wild populations and explaining sex differences of infected hosts [75]. However, viral transmission through aggressive encounters including frequent bites among adult males have been proposed as major hypothesis to explain sex differences [56,76,77,78].…”

Choclo virus (CHOV) recovered from deep metatranscriptomics of archived frozen tissues in natural history biorepositories

“…A spatial representation of the human cases and rodent capture sites were georeferenced using the Datum UTM, WGS 1984, with ArcMap software from ArcGIS v.10.7 (ESRI2019) [ 36 ]. Samples collected within 12 km were aggregated based on maximum spatial movements of close rodent relatives [ 37 , 38 ]. Although we only present samples here with sequence data, previous surveillance efforts have found hantavirus seropositive O .…”