Parasite and viral species richness of Southeast Asian bats: Fragmentation of area distribution matters

Gay, Noellie; Olival, Kevin J.; Bumrungsri, Sara; Siriaroonrat, Boripat; Bourgarel, Mathieu; Morand, Serge

We found a positive and significant correlation between ectoparasite and virus species richness in bat species in our data set. This correlation may be related to the vector-borne transmission of some viruses by ectoparasites (e.g., Aznar-Lopez et al., 2013). For example, ectoparasites, including highly adapted and host-specific bat flies (Order Diptera), may play a role as vectors for bacteria and protozoa in bats, e.g., Bartonella (Morse et al., 2012) and possibly Hepatocystis (Garnham, 1951; Olival et al., 2007) . However, the feeding behavior of ectoparasites (bloodsucking or not) was not documented as there are few publications, but this information could be added in our analyses when available. Also due to a lack of data, it was not possible to test the correlation between viral richness and bacterial richness. An immunologically-driven mechanism of viral and bacterial diversity in bats may explain their apparent resistance to virus-induced diseases and would be worth testing further. For example in humans, herpes virus latency confers a surprising resistance to infection with bacterial pathogens (Barton et al., 2007) .