Ectoparasitos de morcegos (Chiroptera) - Análises entre supracomunidades em áreas de mata ciliar, Floresta Atlântica, Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Few is known of the ecological aspects of most species of ectoparasites of bats, their relationship with the host and how environmental factors and/or the host itself act on the variation of their populations. Bats are home to a wide variety of ectoparasites, including the Streblidae flies and Spinturnicidae mites. These ectoparasites are haematophagous, exclusive of bats and maintains a strong relationship specificity and coevolution with phyllostomid bats, which become them good taxa to infer about possible variations between areas. Whereas areas with different landscape characteristics to determine differences in parasitism of Streblidae and Spinturnicidae in phyllostomid bats was realized a study of the compositions of the assemblage and components of populations and components of communities of three areas of riparian forest inserted on Atlantic Forest, Nova Iguaçu city, Tinguá region, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Two areas in the buffer zone of Biological Tinguá Reserve, an agricultural area, Takume, and a reforestation area, Canavarro, and an area in within the Biological Reserve of Tinguá, Rebio, considered the most preserved area. The sampling effort was similar in all three areas, with monthly sampling, a total of 12 nights in each area, between May 2011 and April 2012.It was registerd 22 species of bats phyllostomid, 24 species of bat flies Streblidae and five Spinturnicidae mites total of the three areas. The Rebio had the highest richness of bats and ectoparasites, while Canavarro had the greatest abundance of individuals and parasitological rates, prevalence, intensity and mean abundance of infestation. The greatest richness of Rebio was attributed to the greater degree of preservation of the area that allowed highest richness of bats and thus their associated ectoparasites. The highest abundance, as well as the highest parasitological indices on Canavarro was attributed to the high abundance of two species of bats, Artibeus lituratus and Sturnira lilium. Both species are commonly found infested by specimens of Streblidae and Spinturnicidae. The data reinforce the idea of high specificity of these ectoparasites with their hosts. Since the parasitism of the areas followed the variations of bats assembleges, showing no variations that could be associated with variables other than their preferred hosts.