Bats, Bat Flies, and Fungi: Exploring Uncharted Waters

Bats serve as hosts to many lineages of arthropods, of which the blood-sucking bat flies (Nycteribiidae and Streblidae) are the most conspicuous. Bat flies can in turn be parasitized by Laboulbeniales fungi, which are biotrophs of arthropods. This is a second level of parasitism, hyperparasitism, a severely understudied phenomenon. Four genera of Laboulbeniales are known to occur on bat flies, Arthrorhynchus on Nycteribiidae in the Eastern Hemisphere, Dimeromyces on Old World Streblidae, Gloeandromyces on New World Streblidae, and Nycteromyces on Streblidae in both hemispheres. In this chapter, we introduce the different partners of the tripartite interaction and discuss their species diversity, ecology, and patterns of specificity. We cover parasite prevalence of Laboulbeniales fungi on bat flies, climatic effects on parasitism of bat flies, and coevolutionary patterns. One of the most important questions in this tripartite system is whether habitat has an influence on parasitism of bat flies by Laboulbeniales fungi. We hypothesize that habitat disturbance causes parasite prevalence to increase, in line with the “dilution effect.” This can only be resolved based on large, non-biased datasets. To obtain these, we stress the importance of multitrophic field expeditions and international collaborations

Contributions to the knowledge of the Laboulbeni\ue6

Volume: 13Start Page: 76End Page: 7

O gênero Erythroxylum P. Browne (Erythroxylaceae) do estado do Paraná, Brasil

<abstract language="eng">An inventory of the Erythroxylum's species from the State of Paraná, Brazil, was done and the following species were found: E. ambiguum Peyr., E. amplifolium (Mart.) O.E. Schulz, E. anguifugum Mart., E. argentinum O.E. Schulz, E. buxus Peyr., E. campestre A. St.-Hil., E. cuneifolium (Mart.) O.E. Schulz, E. cuspidifolium Mart., E. deciduum A. St.-Hil., E. gonocladum (Mart.) O.E. Schulz, E. nanum A. St.-Hil., E. pelleterianum A. St.-Hil., E. microphyllum A. St.-Hil., E. myrsinites Mart. and E. suberosum A. St.-Hil.. All of then are taxonomically revised and a new synonym is presented: E. cuneifolium (Mart.) O.E. Schulz var. squarrosum O.E. Schulz as synonym of E. cuneifolium (Mart.) O.E. Schulz. Is also discussed the validity of the genus name Erythroxylon Linnaeus against Erythroxylum P. Browne