Morphological and quantitative analysis of leukocytes in free-living Australian black flying foxes (Pteropus alecto).

The black flying fox (Pteropus alecto) is a natural reservoir for Hendra virus, a paramyxovirus that causes fatal infections in humans and horses in Australia. Increased excretion of Hendra virus by flying foxes has been hypothesized to be associated with physiological or energetic stress in the reservoir hosts. The objective of this study was to explore the leukocyte profiles of wild-caught P. alecto, with a focus on describing the morphology of each cell type to facilitate identification for clinical purposes and future virus spillover research. To this end, we have created an atlas of images displaying the commonly observed morphological variations across each cell type. We provide quantitative and morphological information regarding the leukocyte profiles in bats captured at two roost sites located in Redcliffe and Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, over the course of two years. We examined the morphology of leukocytes, platelets, and erythrocytes of P. alecto using cytochemical staining and characterization of blood films through light microscopy. Leukocyte profiles were broadly consistent with previous studies of P. alecto and other Pteropus species. A small proportion of individual samples presented evidence of hemoparasitic infection or leukocyte morphological traits that are relevant for future research on bat health, including unique large granular lymphocytes. Considering hematology is done by visual inspection of blood smears, examples of the varied cell morphologies are included as a visual guide. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first qualitative assessment of P. alecto leukocytes, as well as the first set of published hematology reference images for this species

Data from: Land use, season, and parasitism predict metal concentrations in Australian flying fox fur

There are two .csv files in this upload. The Pteropus_metal_data_wide.csv file contains metal concentrations (reported in ng/g) measured in fur samples collected from Pteropus flying foxes (P. alecto, P. conspicillatus, P. poliocephalus). Flying foxes were captured from 2015-2018 at multiple sites across Australia. The file also contains capture information (e.g. date, location) and biological information (e.g. species, sex, age class, parasitism) for each flying fox. The Pteropus_metadata.csv file provides further details on all column names in the primary data file, including the specific metals that were quantified. Detailed information on the study methods and results can be found in the associated Science of the Total Environment publication, Land use, season, and parasitism predict metal concentrations in Australian flying fox fur by Sánchez et al