Records of Myodopsylla wolffsohni wolffsohni (Rothschild, 1903) (Siphonaptera, Ischnopsyllidae) on Myotis nigricans Schinz, 1821 (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae), from the State of Paraná, Southern Brazil

Records of Myodopsylla wolffsohni wolffsohni (Rothschild, 1903) (Siphonaptera, Ischnopsyllidae) on Myotis nigricans Schinz, 1821 (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae), from the State of Paraná, Southern Brazil

Márcia Arzua^I; Pedro Marcos Linardi^II; Darci Moraes Barros-Battesti^III

^ISetor de Parasitologia, Museu de História Natural Capão da Imbuia, Departamento de Zoológico, Prefeitura Municipal de Curitiba. Rua Benedito Conceição, 407, 82810-080 Curitiba-PR, Brazil. E-mail:[e-mail]

^IIDepartamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Av. Antonio Carlos, 6627, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil. E-mail:[e-mail]. CNPq fellowship

^IIILaboratório de Parasitologia, Instituto Butantan. Av. Vital Brasil, 1500, 05503-900 São Paulo-SP, Brazil. E-mail:[e-mail]

ABSTRACT

The flea, Myodopsylla wolffsohni wolffsohni (Rothschild, 1903), had been recorded for the first time in the State of Paraná in 1940, on the bat, Myotis levis (I. Geoffroy, 1824). Previously, this species of flea had only been recorded on Myotis nigricans, in the Amazonian region. This is the second record of M. w. wolffsohni on M. nigricans in Brazil, and the first in the State of Paraná. Although this flea has been found on undetermined Chiroptera in the State of Santa Catarina, the present record represents the meridional limit of geographic distribution for the infestation on M. nigricans.

Keywords: Bats; ectoparasites; fleas; Myodopsylla; Myotis; new records.

INTRODUCTION

Ectoparasites infesting bats are included into groups: Acari (15 different families), Diptera (Streblidae and Nycteribiidae), Hemiptera (Polyctenidae and Cimicidae), Dermaptera (Arixeniidae), and Siphonaptera (Ischnopsyllidae and Tungidae). Although infestation by mites and bat flies is very common in chiropterans, parasitism by fleas is not usually observed (MARSHALL 1981), despite the family Ischnopsyllidae being found exclusively on bats.

Ischnopsyllids are represented by 20 genera and 122 species worldwide (LEWIS 1998). According to LINARDI & GUIMARÃES (2000), this family accounts for 3.84% of the world's flea fauna and 8.47% of the Brazilian. In Brazil and South America five genera are found, including Myodopsylla Jordan & Rothschild, 1911.

Although cosmopolitan, the genus Myodopsylla includes 13 species. In South America it is represented by four species, one of which including two subspecies.

Up to now, only Myodopsylla w. wolffsohni (Rothschild, 1903) has been recorded in Brazil. The other subspecies, Myodopsylla w. salvalis Jordan, 1931, is known only from Venezuela (HOPKINS & ROTHSCHILD 1956; JOHNSON 1957). According to HOPKINS & ROTHSCHILD (1956), the females of both subspecies are morphologically indistinguishable, while the males are separated by the number of bristles on the apical margin of tergum VIII.

The distribution range for Myodopsylla w. wolffsohni includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay. In Brazil, the species has been found in the States of Alagoas (Porto Real), Amazonas (Tefé), Mato Grosso (Porto Joffre), Paraná (Rio Negro), and Santa Catarina (Nova Teutônia).

In relation to the hosts, in the State of Paraná, one of the largely distributed species is Myotis nigricans Schinz, 1821, a small insectivorous bat. Due to their habits, the insectivorous bats, that usually inhabit caves and tree holes, would be more infested than frugivorous bats, since the conditions in these environments favor the development of flea larvae and pupae (JOHNSON 1957).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study area, Estação Ecológica do Caiuá, is located on the banks of the Represa de Rosana in the Paranapanema River (22º39'S, 52º51' W), Diamante do Norte county, State of Paraná. This area constitutes one of the only governmental conservation areas in Northwest Paraná. It contains the remainders of the Semideciduous Seasonal Forest, which was formed on the Arenito of Paranavaí. The climate is mesothermic, humid subtropical, with an annual rainfall average of 1300 mm with no dry season and hot summers, and annual temperature average of 22 ºC (MAACK 1981). This region is, without doubt, that more suffered the impact of anthropic activities, basically agriculture and cattle raising, during the last 50 years, totally decharacterizing the regional phyitophysionomy.

During an environmental diagnosis for the creation of a Management plan for the Estação Ecológica do Caiuá, bats were captured with mist-nets. In one of the field stages, on September 28^th, 1994, two specimens of M. nigricans were collected, but only one was infested with fleas (one male and one female). The bats were anesthetized with ether and brushed. The fleas were removed from the host's body and preserved in 70% alcohol. After clarification, the fleas were prepared on slides and identified according to LINARDI & GUIMARÃES (2000). They were included in the parasitology collection of the Museu de História Natural ''Capão da Imbuia'', Curitiba, under the numbers MHNCI 850 and MHNCI 851. In addition, the host was included in the mastozoology collection (MHNCI 3790).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The flea specimens were identified as Myodopsylla w. wolffsohni (Rothschild, 1903). Hosts for this species of flea are very rare in Brazil. To date, M. w. wolffsohni has been found on Epitesicus sp., Molossus molossus (Pallas, 1766) (= M. obscurus), Myotis sp., M. nigricans, M. levis (= M. polythrix), and Noctilio leporinus (L., 1758) bats (LINARDI & GUIMARÃES 2000). After recording in the State of Paraná by GUIMARÃES (1940) in Rio Negro county (coordinates 26º06'S, 49º47' W) on Myotis levis (cited as M. polythrix), the infestation on M. nigricans was only observed once in Brazil, in Tefé, State of Amazonas.

Exclusive infestations of Myotis by M. w. wolffsohni have been observed only in Brazil. In Panama, this Vespertilionidae genus is infested by fleas of the genus Sternopsylla (TIPTON & MÉNDEZ 1966). In Venezuela and Argentina, both Myodopsylla and Sternopsylla occur on this bat. Specifically in Argentina, M. nigricans, is infested by another species of Myodopsylla, M. isidori Weyenbergh, 1881 (AUTINO & LARESCHI 1998), while the host for M. w. wolffsohni is possibly Myotis albescens (Geoffroy) and is not M. chiloensis Waterhouse, 1840, according to BARQUEZ et al. (1999) and AUTINO & CLAPS (2001).

Taking into account that only in Venezuela and Brazil M. nigricans is infested by both subspecies of M. wolffsohni and that the records for Santa Catarina were notified on unidentified bats, the present record marks the meridional limit for the geographical distribution of infestations on M. nigricans. Although this bat species has been recorded as a host for M. w. wolffsohni in the State of Amazonas (LINARDI & GUIMARÃES 2000), here it is observed for the second time in Brazil.

Acknowledgements. We wish to thank Dra. Tereza Cristina Castelano Margarido for the collecting opportunity and Michel Miretzki for critical analysis of the manuscript.

Received in 18.X.2001; accepted in 30.V.2002

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  18 Sept 2008
• Date of issue
  2002

History

• Received
  18 Oct 2001
• Accepted
  30 May 2002