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17 February 2010 Variation in the abundance of ectoparasitic mites of flat-headed bats
Libiao Zhang, Stuart Parsons, Peter Daszak, Li Wei, Guangjian Zhu, Shuyi Zhang
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Abstract

We investigated the ectoparasitic mite loads (Macronyssus: Macronyssidae: Acarina) on 2 species of flat-headed bats, Tylonycteris pachypus and T. robustula (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in 2 counties of Guangxi Province, southern China, from 2002 to 2005. In Longzhou County both species of bat occur sympatrically, but only T. pachypus occurs in Ningming County. Individuals of the smaller species (T. pachypus) harbored significantly more mites than did those of T. robustula. In both species males harbored more mites than nonreproductive females, pregnant females had more mites than lactating and nonreproductive females, and juveniles harbored more mites than adults. Mite load on both species of bats showed significant seasonal variation, declining from spring to winter. No correlation was found between mite load and size of the host colony. We discuss our findings in relation to the ecology and biology of both hosts and parasites.

Libiao Zhang, Stuart Parsons, Peter Daszak, Li Wei, Guangjian Zhu, and Shuyi Zhang "Variation in the abundance of ectoparasitic mites of flat-headed bats," Journal of Mammalogy 91(1), 136-143, (17 February 2010). https://doi.org/10.1644/08-MAMM-A-306R2.1.
Received: 21 September 2008; Accepted: 1 May 2009; Published: 17 February 2010
KEYWORDS
China
ectoparasites
flat-headed bats
host characteristics
Macronyssus
parasite load
Tylonycteris pachypus
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