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Seasonal dynamics in the numbers of parasitic bugs (Heteroptera, Cimicidae): a possible cause of roost switching in bats (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae)

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Abstract

The objective of the present paper is to extend the knowledge of roosting strategies of bats and the interaction of bats with their roost ectoparasites, the bat bugs Cimex pipistrelli. The project was focussed on the potential causality of bat movements and the variation in bug numbers. For 2 years, three model bat boxes with breeding female Pipistrellus pygmaeus were monitored inside floodplain forest. After the arrival of bats in May, adults and first instars of bugs were observed in the boxes. During the lactation period in June, when the bats did not occupy the roosts, the first instar bugs died out followed by the adults. The decrease in bug numbers began only several days after the bats had left the boxes. After a month of the bats’ absence, the abundance of adult bugs decreased by half of their number. Only the eggs survived the period when the roosts were unoccupied in summer. In mid-July, after the arrival of lactating females, an increase in the number of bugs was observed. At the beginning of August, however, no new eggs were found. Although adult C. pipistrelli are able to survive the winter period in the boxes, the bats, by shifting the roosts within the vegetation season, prevent the massive reproduction of these parasites.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to R. Obrtel (Brno) for both his revision of the English and his comments on the study from an entomologist’s point of view. The study was supported by grant no. MSM 0021622416 of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, grand no. 206/07/P098 of Science Foundation of the Czech Republic and the Czech Bat Conservation Trust. The boxes were checked under the licence no. 922/93-OOP/2884/93 of the Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic. The authors were also authorized to handle free-living bats according to the certificate of competency no. 104/2002-V4 (Section 17, Law no. 246/1992).

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  1. Institute of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Bartonička & Jiří Gaisler

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  1. Tomáš Bartonička
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  2. Jiří Gaisler
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Correspondence to Tomáš Bartonička.

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Bartonička, T., Gaisler, J. Seasonal dynamics in the numbers of parasitic bugs (Heteroptera, Cimicidae): a possible cause of roost switching in bats (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae). Parasitol Res 100, 1323–1330 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-006-0414-6

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