Nycteria and Polychromophilus parasite infections of bats in Central Gabon.

Infect Genet Evol

Dept. of Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany; Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution, Berlin, Germany; Parasitology Unit, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany; Dept. of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, Australia. Electronic address:

Published: March 2019

Haemosporida are arthropod-borne blood parasites that infect a wide range of vertebrate hosts, including numerous species of bats. Here, we present data of haemosporidian infections in different bat species that were surveyed in Ngounié province, Gabon. We detected Nycteria parasites in Rhinolophus bats and Polychromophilus in Miniopterus minor, a rare and poorly known bat species. Strikingly, no Hepatocystis parasites, which are abundant in epauletted fruit bats elsewhere in Africa, were detected. Our findings suggest that Hepatocystis infections in bats display diverse regional patterns of distribution and transmission dynamics, that cannot be predicted from host abundance. Nycteria parasites are widely distributed in several African rhinolophid species and Polychromophilus parasites of diverse Miniopterus species worldwide belong to the same parasite species.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2018.11.022DOI Listing

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