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Gastrointestinal helminths of pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus/Pipistrellus pygmaeus) (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) of England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2012

JENNIFER S. LORD ,
STEVE PARKER ,
FIONA PARKER  and
DARREN R. BROOKS
JENNIFER S. LORD
Affiliation:
Centre for Parasitology and Disease, School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester M5 4WT, UK South Lancashire Bat Group, P.O. Box 512, Bury, Lancashire BL8 9FB, UK
STEVE PARKER
Affiliation:
South Lancashire Bat Group, P.O. Box 512, Bury, Lancashire BL8 9FB, UK
FIONA PARKER
Affiliation:
South Lancashire Bat Group, P.O. Box 512, Bury, Lancashire BL8 9FB, UK
DARREN R. BROOKS*
Affiliation:
Centre for Parasitology and Disease, School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester M5 4WT, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Centre for Parasitology and Disease, School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester M5 4WT, UK. Tel: 44 (0)161 2955272. Fax: 44 (0)161 2955015. E-mail: d.r.brooks@salford.ac.uk
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Summary

Although bats are one of the most successful and diverse of mammalian orders, studies that focus upon bat endoparasites are limited. To further knowledge of bat parasitology, pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus and P. pygmaeus) were acquired from across the Greater Manchester and Lancashire region of England and examined for gastrointestinal helminths using morphological and molecular analyses†. Sixty-eight of 90 adult/juvenile bats (76% prevalence) were infected with at least 1 species of helminth and mean helminth abundance was 48·2 (+/−7·0). All helminths were digenean trematodes and the following species were identified in 51 P. pipistrellus specimens (prevalence in parentheses): Lecithodendrium linstowi (80·4%), L. spathulatum (19·6%), Prosthodendrium sp. (35·3%), Plagiorchis koreanus (29·4%) and Pycnoporus heteroporus (9·8%). Statistical analyses, incorporating multifactorial models, showed that male bats exhibited a significantly more aggregated helminth distribution and lower abundance than females. Positive associations were observed between L. linstowi and L. spathulatum, Prosthodendrium sp. and P. heteroporus and between L. spathulatum and P. koreanus. A revised phylogeny of bat-associated Lecithodendriidae, incorporating novel L. spathulatum and Prosthodendrium sp. 28S rRNA sequences, separated the controversial clade formed by L. linstowi and P. hurkovaae. Further studies are likely to assist the understanding of bat-parasite/pathogen relationships, helminth infracommunity structures and phylogenetics.

Keywords

helminthtrematodeLecithodendriidaebatsChiropterapipistrelleecology
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 139 , Issue 3 , March 2012 , pp. 366 - 374
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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