Bat Distribution Size or Shape as Determinant of Viral Richness in African Bats

Maganga, Gaël D.; Bourgarel, Mathieu; Vallo, Peter; Dallo, Thierno D.; Ngoagouni, Carine; Drexler, Jan Felix; Drosten, Christian; Nakouné, Emmanuel R.; Leroy, Eric M.; Morand, Serge

Our study on the correlation of viral richness in bats was conducted using 15 bats species from Central and West Africa. We selected only the species for which we had enough samples and information on viral richness to carry out analysis. Bats were caught in the Republic of Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic (CAR) and Senegal [4] Figure 1 ). Bats were captured using mist-nets or harp traps. Mist-nets (1262.4 m) were hoisted either in the tree canopy (defined as ''foliage'') or at the entrance of the small roosting caves (defined as ''cave'') just before twilight. Harp Traps were used at the entrance of big caves known to harbor large population of bats. Following capture, bats were identified on site by trained field biologists and individually euthanized under sedation in a field laboratory. Bats were weighed using a spring scale prior to autopsy and selected internal organs were collected during autopsy and stored at 2 80uC for future virological analysis. Data on the ecological traits of the 15 different bat species captured (i.e., roost type, body weight, migratory behaviour and colony size) was gathered from published literature ( Table 1 , see Annex 1 for references).