First Molecular Detection of Parasites in Brazilian Bat Species.

Blood parasites of the Haemosporida order, such as the spp. responsible for malaria, have become the focus of many studies in evolutionary biology. However, there is a lack of molecular investigation of haemosporidian parasites of wildlife, such as the genus Species of this neglected genus exclusively have been described in bats, mainly in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but little is known about its presence and genetic diversity on the American continent. Here, we investigated 406 bats from sites inserted in remnant fragments of the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes and urbanized areas from southern Brazil for the presence of species by PCR of the mitochondrial cytochrome b encoding gene. A total of 1.2% of bats was positive for , providing the first molecular information of these parasites in and , common vespertilionid bats widely distributed in different Brazilian biomes, and , an endangered species. A Bayesian analysis was conducted to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships between recovered from Brazilian bats and those identified elsewhere. Sequences of Brazilian lineages were placed with and in a clade distinct from , mainly restricted to bats in the family Vespertilionidae. However, the sequences were split into two minor clades, according to the genus of hosts, indicating that and a distinct species may be circulating in Brazil. Morphological observations combined with additional molecular studies are needed to conclude and describe these species.