The energetic grooming costs imposed by a parasitic mite (Spinturnix myoti) upon its bat host (Myotis myotis).

Parasites often exert severe negative effects upon their host's fitness. Natural selection has therefore prompted the evolution of anti-parasite mechanisms such as grooming. Grooming is efficient at reducing parasitic loads in both birds and mammals, but the energetic costs it entails have not been properly quantified. We measured both the energetic metabolism and behaviour of greater mouse-eared bats submitted to three different parasite loads (no, 20 and 40 mites) during whole daily cycles. Mites greatly affected their time and energy budgets. They caused increased grooming activity, reduced the overall time devoted to resting and provoked a dramatic shortening of resting bout duration. Correspondingly, the bats' overall metabolism (oxygen consumption) increased drastically with parasite intensity and, during the course of experiments, the bats lost more weight when infested with 40 rather than 20 or no parasites. The short-term energetic constraints induced by anti-parasite grooming are probably associated with long-term detrimental effects such as a decrease in survival and overall reproductive value.

Sex-biased dispersal in a migratory bat: a characterization using sex-specific demographic parameters.

We studied the noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula), in which the mitochondrial F(ST) is about 10 times that revealed by nuclear markers, to address two questions. We first verified whether random dispersal of one sex is compatible with highly contrasted mitochondrial and nuclear population structures. Using computer simulations, we then assessed the power of multilocus population differentiation tests when the expected population structure departs only slightly from panmixia. Using an island model with sex-specific demographic parameters, we found that random male dispersal is consistent with the population structure observed in the noctule. However, other parameter combinations are also compatible with the data. We computed the minimum sex bias in dispersal (at least 69% of the dispersing individuals are males), a result that would not be available if we had used more classical population genetic models. The power of multilocus population differentiation tests was unexpectedly high, the tests being significant in almost 100% of the replicates, although the observed population structure infered from nuclear markers was extremely low (F(ST) = 0.6%).

Bat flies (Diptera, Streblidae and Nycteribiidae) in a Cerrado area of Goiás State, Brazil

A survey of bat flies was carried out in the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado) in the Goiás state, Brazil. We collected 227 specimens of seventeen species belonging to nine genera of Streblidae and seven specimens of four species of Basilia Miranda-Ribeiro, 1903 (Nycteribiidae). Except for Paratrichobius longicrus (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1907) (Streblidae), all species are new recorded in Goiás.

The evolutionary host switches of Polychromophilus: a multi-gene phylogeny of the bat malaria genus suggests a second invasion of mammals by a haemosporidian parasite.

BACKGROUND: The majority of Haemosporida species infect birds or reptiles, but many important genera, including Plasmodium, infect mammals. Dipteran vectors shared by avian, reptilian and mammalian Haemosporida, suggest multiple invasions of Mammalia during haemosporidian evolution; yet, phylogenetic analyses have detected only a single invasion event. Until now, several important mammal-infecting genera have been absent in these analyses. This study focuses on the evolutionary origin of Polychromophilus, a unique malaria genus that only infects bats (Microchiroptera) and is transmitted by bat flies (Nycteribiidae). METHODS: Two species of Polychromophilus were obtained from wild bats caught in Switzerland. These were molecularly characterized using four genes (asl, clpc, coI, cytb) from the three different genomes (nucleus, apicoplast, mitochondrion). These data were then combined with data of 60 taxa of Haemosporida available in GenBank. Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood and a range of rooting methods were used to test specific hypotheses concerning the phylogenetic relationships between Polychromophilus and the other haemosporidian genera. RESULTS: The Polychromophilus melanipherus and Polychromophilus murinus samples show genetically distinct patterns and group according to species. The Bayesian tree topology suggests that the monophyletic clade of Polychromophilus falls within the avian/saurian clade of Plasmodium and directed hypothesis testing confirms the Plasmodium origin. CONCLUSION: Polychromophilus' ancestor was most likely a bird- or reptile-infecting Plasmodium before it switched to bats. The invasion of mammals as hosts has, therefore, not been a unique event in the evolutionary history of Haemosporida, despite the suspected costs of adapting to a new host. This was, moreover, accompanied by a switch in dipteran host.

Physiological traits affecting the distribution and wintering strategy of the bat Tadarida teniotis

The ability to enter torpor at low ambient temperature, which enables insectivorous bats to survive seasonal food shortage, is often seen as a prerequisite for colonizing cold environments. Free-tailed bats (Molossidae) show a distribution with a maximum latitudinal extension that appears to be intermediate between truly tropical and temperate-zone bat families. We therefore tested the hypothesis that Tadarida teniotis, the molossid species reaching the highest latitude worldwide (46 degrees N), lacks the extreme physiological adaptations to cold that enable other sympatric bats to enter further into the temperate zone. We studied the metabolism of individuals subjected to various ambient temperatures in the laboratory by respirometry, and we monitored the body temperature of free-ranging individuals in winter and early spring in the Swiss Alps using temperature-sensitive radio-tags. For comparison, metabolic data were obtained from Nyctalus noctula, a typically hibernating vespertilionid bat of similar body size and convergent foraging tactics. The metabolic data support the hypothesis that T. teniotis cannot experience such low ambient temperatures as sympatric temperate-zone vespertilionid bats without incurring much higher energetic costs for thermogenesis. The minimum rate of metabolism in torpor was obtained at 7.5 degrees-10 degrees C in T. teniotis, as compared to 2.5 degrees-5 degrees C in N. noctula. Field data showed that T. teniotis behaves as a classic thermo-conforming hibernator in the Alps, with torpor bouts lasting up to 8 d. This contradicts the widely accepted opinion that Molossidae are nonhibernating bars. However, average body temperature (10 degrees-13 degrees C) and mean arousal frequency (3.4 d in one bat in January) appear to be markedly higher than in other temperate-zone bat species. At the northern border of its range T. teniotis selects relatively warm roosts (crevices in tall, south-exposed limestone cliffs) in winter where temperatures oscillate around 10 degrees C. By this means, T. teniotis apparently avoids the risk of prolonged exposure to energetically critical ambient temperatures in torpor (<6.5 degrees-7.5 degrees C) during cold spells. Possibly shared by other Molossidae, the physiological pattern observed in T. teniotis may clearly be linked to the intermediate latitudinal extension of this bat family.

Indiana Bat Myotis Sodalis, 2011

Data sheet produced by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is about different times of animals, insects, snakes, birds, fish, butterflies, etc. that can be found in Iowa.

Is the Gibraltar strait a barrier to gene flow for the bat Myotis myotis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)?

Because of their role in limiting gene flow, geographical barriers like mountains or seas often coincide with intraspecific genetic discontinuities. Although the Strait of Gibraltar represents such a potential barrier for both plants and animals, few studies have been conducted on its impact on gene flow. Here we test this effect on a bat species (Myotis myotis) which is apparently distributed on both sides of the strait. Six colonies of 20 Myotis myotis each were sampled in southern Spain and northern Morocco along a linear transect of 1350 km. Results based on six nuclear microsatellite loci reveal no significant population structure within regions, but a complete isolation between bats sampled on each side of the strait. Variability at 600 bp of a mitochondrial gene (cytochrome b) confirms the existence of two genetically distinct and perfectly segregating clades, which diverged several million years ago. Despite the narrowness of the Gibraltar Strait (14 km), these molecular data suggest that neither males, nor females from either region have ever reproduced on the opposite side of the strait. Comparisons of molecular divergence with bats from a closely related species (M. blythii) suggest that the North African clade is possibly a distinct taxon warranting full species rank. We provisionally refer to it as Myotis cf punicus Felten 1977, but a definitive systematic understanding of the whole Mouse-eared bat species complex awaits further genetic sampling, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean areas.

Thermal energetics and torpor in the common pipistrelle bat, Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Vespertilionidae: Mammalia).

Rate of metabolism and body temperature were studied between -6°C and 38°C in the common pipistrelle bat Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Vespertilionidae), a European species lying close to the lower end of the mammalian size range (body mass 4.9±0.8g, N=28). Individuals maintained only occasionally a normothermic body temperature averaging 35.4±1.1°C (N=4) and often showed torpor during metabolic runs. The thermoneutral zone was found above 33°C, and basal rate of metabolism averaged 7.6±0.8mL O(2)h(-1) (N=28), which is 69% of the value predicted on the basis of body mass. Minimal wet thermal conductance was 161% of the expected value. During torpor, the rate of metabolism was related exponentially to body temperature with a Q(10) value of 2.57. Torpid bats showed intermittent ventilation, with the frequency of ventilatory cycles increasing exponentially with body temperature. Basal rate of metabolism (BMR) varied significantly with season and body temperature, but not with body mass. It was lower before the hibernation period than during the summer. The patterns observed are generally consistent with those exhibited by other vespertilionids of temperate regions. However, divergences occur with previous measurements on European pipistrelles, and the causes of the seasonal variation in BMR, which has only rarely been searched for among vespertilionids, remain to be examined.

Spatio-temporal population genetic structure of the parasitic mite Spinturnix bechsteini is shaped by its own demography and the social system of its bat host.

Information about the population genetic structures of parasites is important for an understanding of parasite transmission pathways and ultimately the co-evolution with their hosts. If parasites cannot disperse independently of their hosts, a parasite's population structure will depend upon the host's spatial distribution. Geographical barriers affecting host dispersal can therefore lead to structured parasite populations. However, how the host's social system affects the genetic structure of parasite populations is largely unknown. We used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to describe the spatio-temporal population structure of a contact-transmitted parasitic wing mite (Spinturnix bechsteini) and compared it to that of its social host, the Bechstein's bat (Myotis bechsteinii). We observed no genetic differentiation between mites living on different bats within a colony. This suggests that mites can move freely among bats of the same colony. As expected in case of restricted inter-colony dispersal, we observed a strong genetic differentiation of mites among demographically isolated bat colonies. In contrast, we found a strong genetic turnover between years when we investigated the temporal variation of mite haplotypes within colonies. This can be explained with mite dispersal occuring between colonies and bottlenecks of mite populations within colonies. The observed absence of isolation by distance could be the result from genetic drift and/or from mites dispersing even between remote bat colonies, whose members may meet at mating sites in autumn or in hibernacula in winter. Our data show that the population structure of this parasitic wing mite is influenced by its own demography and the peculiar social system of its bat host.