New records of bat flies ( Diptera , Streblidae and Nycteribiidae ) in Cerrado of Central Brazil

Here we record the occurrence of 38 species, including 30 species of Streblidae and eight species of Nycteribiidae. Of these, 12 are new records for the Distrito Federal, three are new for the Cerrado, and one, Trichobius johnsonae Wenzel, 1966 is the first record from Brazil. We also recorded a yet undescribed species of Basilia from the district.

Four orders of insects are ectoparasites on bats.Of these, the order Diptera is represented by the most species in New World (Marshall 1982;Whitaker 1998).Two Diptera families, Streblidae and Nycteribiidae are obligatory ectoparasites on bats (Marshall 1982;Guerrero 1993).In Brazil, Streblidae is represented by nearly 70 species (Graciolli et al. 2008) from three subfamilies that exhibit high morphological variability (Whitaker 1988).In contrast, Nycteribiidae is very specialized, presenting a small thorax with dorsal insertions of the legs and head and absence of wings (Peterson and Wenzel 1987).Although more abundant in the Old World, there are 28 species of two genera of Nycteribiidae in Brazil (Graciolli et al. 2007).
Notwithstanding, most studies of bat flies have been conducted in Southern and Southeastern Brazil.Though, the Distrito Federal in central Brazil has the largest number of bat fly species (Graciolli et al. 2010), and the first records date from the 1980s, when Coimbra Jr. et al. (1984) listed 12 streblid species.Currently, there are 44 species reported in the Distrito Federal, five belonging to Nycteribiidae (genus Basilia), and 39 species, 14 genera, and three subfamilies belonging to Streblidae (Graciolli and Coelho 2001;Graciolli and Aguiar 2002;Aguiar et al. 2006;Graciolli et al. 2007;Graciolli et al. 2008;Aguiar and Antonini 2011).Herein, we report new records of bat flies in the Cerrado of central Brazil.
From the 1,733 specimens of bat flies that we have captured, 30 species of the family Streblidae belonging to three subfamilies and 11 genera, and eight species of the family Nycteribiidae belonging to the genus Basilia Miranda-Ribeiro, 1903.Twelve records are new for the Distrito Federal (Table 1).
Anastrebla caudiferae Wenzel, 1976 -Eight females from PNB, one female and four males from AGCV, and one female from ESECAE, all collected on Anoura caudifer specimens (Phyllostomidae).This species is known to occur in the states of Rio de Janeiro (Lourenço et al. 2014), Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul (Graciolli et al. 2008), always in Atlantic Forest.This record is the first for the Brazilian Cerrado.Besides on the main host, A. caudifer, A. and Santa Catarina (Graciolli 2003), and this is the first record in the Cerrado.
Strebla curvata Wenzel, 1976 -one female from PNB and two females from ESECAE, on G. soricina (Phyllostomidae).It is a common species, with records known from the Cerrado of Goiás (Graciolli et al. 2010) and Mato Grosso do Sul (Eriksson et al. 2011).It is found on the primary host, G. soricina (Guerrero 1996).
Strebla hertigi Wenzel, 1966 -four females on Phyllostomus discolor (Phyllostomidae) from ESECAE.This bat fly species has a broad distribution, is known from Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad, and Venezuela, and is associated mainly with P. hastatus (Guerrero 1996).Our record represents the southernmost one in Brazil, as this species was previously known only from the states of Pará (from an unknown host species; Graciolli et al. 2008), Rio de Janeiro (found on Tonatia bidens; Almeida et al. 2011), and Maranhão (also on P. discolor; Dias et al. 2009;Santos et al. 2013).
Strebla carvalhoi Graciolli, 2003 -one female and one male from PNB, and one female from ESECAE on A. caudifer; one female on Sturnira lilium (Phyllostomidae) from ESECAE.We extend the known distribution of this species northwards by 998 km to the Mid-west Region of Brazil.Previously, this species was known only from the Atlantic Forest of the states of São Paulo, Paraná,  angulatus has been recorded from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul on P. lineatus (Eriksson et al. 2011).This is the first record for the Distrito Federal.
Trichobius costalimai Guimarães, 1938 -three females and one male from PNB, 10 females and six males from ESECAE on P. lineatus; and one female from ESECAE and five females from AGCV on A. lituratus.It has been recorded from the states of Pernambuco (type locality), Rondônia (Graciolli et al. 2008), Maranhão (Dias et al. 2009), and Goiás (Graciolli et al. 2010).The primary host of this species is P. discolor (Phyllostomidae), the records on others bats are probably accidental (Guerrero 1994a).
Trichobius johnsonae Wenzel, 1966 -24 females and 17 males from PNB, and two females and three males from ESECAE, on Pteronotus parnellii (Mormoopidae); one male on G. soricina from PNB.This species belongs to the caecus group, recorded previously in Colombia, Panama, Venezuela (Guerrero 1994a), Mexico (Guerrero and Morales-Malacara 1996), and Belize (Bärtschi 2000).This is the first record of this species in Brazil (Figure 2).Its host-type is Pteronotus gymnonotus, but it has been reported on other Pteronotus species (Guerrero 1994a); this suggests that our record is not accidental.We collected T. johnsonae on P. parnellii in PNB and ESECAE.In PNB we also observed the occurrence of T. johnsonae on G. soricina, but this may be an accidental record.
Trichobius tiptoni Wenzel, 1976 -eight females and six males from PNB, two females and two males from ESECAE, and one female and seven males from AGCV, on A. caudifer; on A. planirostris and C. perspicillata from PNB (two and one females, respectively); one female on M. microtis from ESECAE.In Brazil, this species is known from the states of Goiás (Eriksson et al. 2011), Rio de Janeiro (Almeida et al. 2011;França et al. 2013;Lourenço et al. 2014), Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul and is mainly associated with A. caudifer (Graciolli et al. 2008).We have two probable accidental records on M. microtis and C. perspicillata (although this later association was also found in São Paulo; Graciolli et al. 2008).
Basilia new sp.-three males and four females on M. nigricans from PNB.This is an undescribed species, but it is known from the Cerrado of Goiás state where it was found parasitizing a Myotis sp.The species morphology is very similar to B. quadrosae Graciolli & Moura, 2004and B. ortizi Machado-Allison, 1964(Graciolli et al. 2010).
We present here the first record of Trichobius john sonae to Brazil (Figure 2).We also record for the first time in the Cerrado three species: Anastrebla caudiferae, Basilia lindolphoi, and Strebla carvalhoi.In addition, we present the first record of eight other species in Distrito Federal, including an undescribed species of Basilia, increasing to 56 the number of known species to the state.The addition of 12 new species to the Distrito Federal highlights the need for more studies with bats and their ectoparasites in Brazil, because there are many areas with little or no study (Graciolli et al. 2010).Furthermore, with the increase in emergent diseases brought by bats and their ectoparasites, bat flies are the focus of international interest (Morse et al. 2012;Brook et al. 2015), which demonstrates the importance of studies with this group.

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Figueiredo et al. | New bat flies for Brazilian Cerrado

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Figueiredo et al. | New bat flies for Brazilian Cerrado

Table 1 .
New records of bat flies species, with their respective hosts, captured in different sites in Distrito Federal, Brazil, from April 2012 to August 2013.