Andrianiaina Angelo F, Andry Santino, Kettenburg Gwenddolen, Ranaivoson Hafaliana Christian, Lacoste Vincent, Dussart Philippe, Heraud Jean-Michel, Laverty Theresa M, Guth Sarah, Young Katherine I, Andrianarimisa Aristide, Brook Cara E
Department of Zoology and Animal Biodiversity, University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Department of Entomology, University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Parasit Vectors. 2025 Jul 28;18(1):302. doi: 10.1186/s13071-025-06805-z.
Bats are important reservoir hosts for a variety of pathogens, some of which are transmitted by ectoparasite vectors including mites, fleas, lice, ticks, and bat flies (families Nycteribiidae and Streblidae). All these ectoparasite taxa are known to parasitize two endemic fruit bats of Madagascar, Eidolon dupreanum and Rousettus madagascariensis. We aimed to describe the diversity of ectoparasite infestation for both bat species through morphological observation and DNA barcoding and elucidate ecological and climatic correlates of seasonal nycteribiid parasitism of these hosts.
Eidolon dupreanum and R. madagascariensis fruit bats were live-captured in northern and central-eastern Madagascar periodically from 2013 to 2020. Ectoparasites on all captured bats were counted and identified in the field and then collected into ethanol. Field identification of a subset of samples was confirmed via microscopy and DNA barcoding of the cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 (COI) and 18S genes. The seasonal abundance of nycteribiid bat flies on both host bats was analyzed using generalized additive models, and the role of climate in driving this seasonality was assessed via cross-correlation analysis combined with generalized linear models. Phylogenetic trees were generated to compare COI and 18S sequences of Madagascar nycteribiid and streblid bat flies with available reference sequences from GenBank.
Ectoparasites corresponding to four broad taxa (mites, ticks, fleas, and bat flies) were recovered from 628 of 873 E. dupreanum (71.9%) and 831 of 862 R. madagascariensis (96.4%). Eidolon dupreanum were most commonly parasitized by Cyclopodia dubia nycteribiids and R. madagascariensis by Eucampsipoda madagascariensis nycteribiids and Megastrebla wenzeli streblids. We observed significant seasonality in nycteribiid abundance on both bat hosts, which varied by bat sex and was positively correlated with lagged temperature, precipitation, and humidity variables. Barcoding sequences recovered for all three bat fly species grouped with previously reported sequences, confirming morphological species identification. Our study contributes the first DNA barcodes of any kind reported for M. wenzeli and the first 18S barcodes for C. dubia.
This study explores the diversity and abundance of ectoparasite burdens in two Malagasy fruit bat species, highlighting the importance of seasonal ecology and the influence of climate variables on parasitism, which correlates with resource availability.
蝙蝠是多种病原体的重要宿主，其中一些病原体通过包括螨、跳蚤、虱子、蜱和蝙蝠蝇（蛛蝠科和蝠蝇科）在内的外寄生虫媒介传播。已知所有这些外寄生虫类群都寄生于马达加斯加的两种特有果蝠，即杜氏锤头果蝠（Eidolon dupreanum）和马达加斯加果蝠（Rousettus madagascariensis）。我们旨在通过形态学观察和DNA条形码技术描述这两种蝙蝠的外寄生虫感染多样性，并阐明这些宿主季节性蛛蝠寄生的生态和气候相关性。
2013年至2020年期间，在马达加斯加北部和中东部定期活体捕获杜氏锤头果蝠和马达加斯加果蝠。对所有捕获蝙蝠身上的外寄生虫进行现场计数和鉴定，然后收集到乙醇中。通过显微镜检查以及细胞色素C氧化酶亚基1（COI）和18S基因的DNA条形码技术，对一部分样本进行现场鉴定确认。使用广义相加模型分析两种宿主蝙蝠身上蛛蝠的季节性丰度，并通过互相关分析结合广义线性模型评估气候在驱动这种季节性变化中的作用。生成系统发育树，将马达加斯加蛛蝠和蝠蝇的COI和18S序列与来自GenBank的可用参考序列进行比较。
在873只杜氏锤头果蝠中的628只（71.9%）和862只马达加斯加果蝠中的831只（96.4%）身上发现了对应四个大类群（螨、蜱、跳蚤和蝙蝠蝇）的外寄生虫。杜氏锤头果蝠最常见的寄生蛛蝠是Dubia环足蛛蝠，而马达加斯加果蝠最常见的寄生蛛蝠是马达加斯加真足蛛蝠，最常见的寄生蝠蝇是温氏大蝠蝇。我们观察到两种宿主蝙蝠身上蛛蝠的丰度都有显著的季节性变化，这种变化因蝙蝠性别而异，并且与滞后的温度、降水量和湿度变量呈正相关。所有三种蝙蝠蝇物种的条形码序列与先前报道的序列聚类，证实了形态学物种鉴定。我们的研究提供了温氏大蝠蝇的首个任何类型的DNA条形码以及Dubia环足蛛蝠的首个18S条形码。
本研究探讨了两种马达加斯加果蝠身上外寄生虫负担的多样性和丰度，强调了季节生态学的重要性以及气候变量对寄生现象的影响，而这种影响与资源可用性相关。
