Hyperparasitism in caves: bats, bat flies and ectoparasitic fungus interaction

Katrine M. Jensen; Luísa Rodrigues; Thomas Pape; Anders Garm; Sergi Santamaria; Ana Sofia P.s. Reboleira

doi:10.1016/j.jip.2019.107206

Hyperparasitism in caves: bats, bat flies and ectoparasitic fungus interaction

Katrine M. Jensen, Luísa Rodrigues, Thomas Pape, Anders Garm, Sergi Santamaria, Ana Sofia P.s. Reboleira

Marine Biology

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiinae) are highly specialized bloodsucking bat ectoparasites. Some of the ectoparasitic bat flies are themselves parasitized with an ectoparasitic fungus of the genus Arthrorhynchus (Laboulbeniales). Ascospores of the fungus attach to the cuticle of a bat fly and develop a haustorium that penetrates the host cuticle. This interaction defines the fungus as a hyperparasite. Both the fly and the fungus are obligate parasites and this peculiar case of hyperparasitism has remained largely unstudied. We studied the prevalence of Laboulbeniales, genus Arthrorhynchus, in natural populations of bat flies infesting the bat species Miniopterus schreibersii, Myotis bechsteinii, My. blythii, My. daubentonii, My. escalerai and My. myotis in Portuguese caves. Laboulbeniales were found infecting 10 of the 428 screened bat flies (2.3%) in natural populations, with fewer infections in winter. Images obtained with transmission electron microscopy show the fungal haustorium within the bat fly host tissue, from where it extracts nutrition.

Original language	English
Article number	107206
Journal	Journal of Invertebrate Pathology
Number of pages	10
ISSN	0022-2011
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2019.107206
Publication status	Published - Sept 2019

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jip.2019.107206

Cite this

@article{943ed9d34ce247c39fb8f916da6af6e4,

title = "Hyperparasitism in caves: bats, bat flies and ectoparasitic fungus interaction",

abstract = "Bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiinae) are highly specialized bloodsucking bat ectoparasites. Some of the ectoparasitic bat flies are themselves parasitized with an ectoparasitic fungus of the genus Arthrorhynchus (Laboulbeniales). Ascospores of the fungus attach to the cuticle of a bat fly and develop a haustorium that penetrates the host cuticle. This interaction defines the fungus as a hyperparasite. Both the fly and the fungus are obligate parasites and this peculiar case of hyperparasitism has remained largely unstudied. We studied the prevalence of Laboulbeniales, genus Arthrorhynchus, in natural populations of bat flies infesting the bat species Miniopterus schreibersii, Myotis bechsteinii, My. blythii, My. daubentonii, My. escalerai and My. myotis in Portuguese caves. Laboulbeniales were found infecting 10 of the 428 screened bat flies (2.3%) in natural populations, with fewer infections in winter. Images obtained with transmission electron microscopy show the fungal haustorium within the bat fly host tissue, from where it extracts nutrition.",

author = "Jensen, {Katrine M.} and Lu{\'i}sa Rodrigues and Thomas Pape and Anders Garm and Sergi Santamaria and Reboleira, {Ana Sofia P.s.}",

year = "2019",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1016/j.jip.2019.107206",

language = "English",

journal = "Journal of Invertebrate Pathology",

issn = "0022-2011",

publisher = "Academic Press",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Hyperparasitism in caves: bats, bat flies and ectoparasitic fungus interaction

AU - Jensen, Katrine M.

AU - Rodrigues, Luísa

AU - Pape, Thomas

AU - Garm, Anders

AU - Santamaria, Sergi

AU - Reboleira, Ana Sofia P.s.

PY - 2019/9

Y1 - 2019/9

N2 - Bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiinae) are highly specialized bloodsucking bat ectoparasites. Some of the ectoparasitic bat flies are themselves parasitized with an ectoparasitic fungus of the genus Arthrorhynchus (Laboulbeniales). Ascospores of the fungus attach to the cuticle of a bat fly and develop a haustorium that penetrates the host cuticle. This interaction defines the fungus as a hyperparasite. Both the fly and the fungus are obligate parasites and this peculiar case of hyperparasitism has remained largely unstudied. We studied the prevalence of Laboulbeniales, genus Arthrorhynchus, in natural populations of bat flies infesting the bat species Miniopterus schreibersii, Myotis bechsteinii, My. blythii, My. daubentonii, My. escalerai and My. myotis in Portuguese caves. Laboulbeniales were found infecting 10 of the 428 screened bat flies (2.3%) in natural populations, with fewer infections in winter. Images obtained with transmission electron microscopy show the fungal haustorium within the bat fly host tissue, from where it extracts nutrition.

AB - Bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiinae) are highly specialized bloodsucking bat ectoparasites. Some of the ectoparasitic bat flies are themselves parasitized with an ectoparasitic fungus of the genus Arthrorhynchus (Laboulbeniales). Ascospores of the fungus attach to the cuticle of a bat fly and develop a haustorium that penetrates the host cuticle. This interaction defines the fungus as a hyperparasite. Both the fly and the fungus are obligate parasites and this peculiar case of hyperparasitism has remained largely unstudied. We studied the prevalence of Laboulbeniales, genus Arthrorhynchus, in natural populations of bat flies infesting the bat species Miniopterus schreibersii, Myotis bechsteinii, My. blythii, My. daubentonii, My. escalerai and My. myotis in Portuguese caves. Laboulbeniales were found infecting 10 of the 428 screened bat flies (2.3%) in natural populations, with fewer infections in winter. Images obtained with transmission electron microscopy show the fungal haustorium within the bat fly host tissue, from where it extracts nutrition.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jip.2019.107206

DO - 10.1016/j.jip.2019.107206

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31152770

SN - 0022-2011

JO - Journal of Invertebrate Pathology

JF - Journal of Invertebrate Pathology

M1 - 107206

ER -

Hyperparasitism in caves: bats, bat flies and ectoparasitic fungus interaction

Abstract

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this