Checklist of ectoparasitic arthropods among cave-dwelling bats from Marinduque Island , Philippines Ace

This paper constitutes the first ectoparasite faunal survey of bats for Marinduque Island, Philippines. From 1–12 June 2010, 150 bats belonging to 11 species were captured in 11 caves on the island. Each bat was sampled for ectoparasitic arthropods, and a total of 587 individuals representing 21 species, belonging to five families (Acari: Argasidae and Spinturnicidae; Diptera: Nycteribiidae and Streblidae; and Siphonaptera: Ischnopsyllidae) were collected. New host records (new host record) in the Philippines for Brachytarsina cucullata Jobling 1934, B. proxima Jobling 1951, B. werneri Jobling 1951, Raymondia pseudopagodarum Jobling 1951, Eucampsipoda philippinensis Ferris 1924, Nycteribia allotopa Speiser 1901, Nycteribia allotopoides Theodor 1963, Nycteribia parvuloides Theodor 1963, Ancystropus taprobanius (Turk 1950), and Carios batuensis Hirst 1929 were documented. A checklist of the ectoparasitic species known from the Philippines, their distribution, and bat host species is provided.


Study site
Bats were captured using 3 × 2.5 m mobile mist nets from 2-11 June 2010.Collections were made in different chambers and along trails in caves at varying elevations on Marinduque Island.Caves were in the municipalities of Boac, Mogpog, Sta.Cruz, and Torrijos (Figure 1; Table 1).

Data collection
Collected host species were identified up to species level.Some specimens were euthanized as voucher specimens by placing them inside ZipLoc TM resealable plastic bags with cotton impregnated with ethyl acetate while others were released.The entire dermal surface of the host was examined systematically for the presence of ectoparasites with particular attention to parasitic arthropods, especially on the wing and tail membranes, ventral and dorsal parts of the ears and pelage, toes and wing ridges.Fine-pointed forceps were used to remove the ectoparasites from host animals.
After removal from their hosts, the ectoparasites were counted and specimens placed in 95% ethanol in Eppendorf TM vials that were labeled with place and date of collection as well as host data.To avoid repetitious mention of general collection data in the citations of material examined, all ectoparasites were collected by A.K.S. Amarga and P.A. Alviola in June 2010 from Marinduque Island.
Identifications of ectoparasites were made using a stereomicroscope.Available taxonomic keys to various ectoparasitic taxa infesting bats were used to identify the ectoparasites to the lowest taxonomic level.Voucher specimens of both hosts and ectoparasites were deposited in the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Museum of Natural History (UPLB MNH).

RESULTS
A total of 587 insect and acarine ectoparasites, belonging to five families, were obtained from 150 individuals of cave bats representing 11 species (Table 2).New island and host bat records are also reported.(Cuy 1980a).

Documented host record:
Known to be ectoparasitic on Pteropodidae.

DISCUSSION
This paper presents the first faunal survey of bat ectoparasites in Marinduque Island, and therefore, all taxa documented herein are new island records.Among the recorded families, Streblidae, Nycteribiidae, Ischnopsyllidae, and Spinturnicidae (Delfinado & Baker 1963;Dittmar et al. 2006;Krasnov 2008) are restricted only to bats, whereas the Argasidae tend to have a much broader host specificity in various terrestrial vertebrate groups (Estrada-Peña et al. 2010;Barros-Battesti et al. 2015).
The Ischnopsyllidae is the only siphonapteran family exclusively associated with bats (Smit 1957;Krasnov 2008).Bat fleas are traditionally divided into two subfamilies: Thaumapsyllinae (parasitic to Megachiorptera), and Ischnopsyllinae (parasitic to microchipterans) (Whiting et al. 2008).Of the three bat flea genera known to occur in the Philippines, only Thaumapsylla (Figure 2) was documented in Marinduque and was known to be associated with pteropodids.
Spinturnicidae (Acarina) comprises mites that are exclusively ectoparasitic on bats.Four genera occur in the Philippines and two of them, Ancystropus and Meristaspis, are documented in Marinduque Island.In the Philippines, the genus Ancystropus is known only from pteropodids (Cuy 1979;Delfinado & Baker 1963).New host records for Ancystropus taprobanius include microchiropterans (Rhi nolophus, Hipposideros, and Miniopterus).The genus Meri staspis was documented on the family Pteropodidae (Cuy 1979), and in Marinduque, it was collected from Rousettus amplexicaudatus.This is the first study of the first faunal surveys in the Philippines which addresses only the ectoparasite diversity of cave-dwelling chiropterans.Previous studies of the bat ectoparasite fauna of Philippine bats also included noncave dwelling bats (Theodor 1963;Delfinado & Baker 1963;Cuy 1979Cuy , 1980aCuy , 1980b;;Hastriter & Bush 2013).
Ectoparasites are integral components of the ecosystem and to some extent may portray the role of keystone species.They have evolved in parallel with their host taxa over time.Their variety of host specificity spectrum ranging from monoxeny to polyxeny can also be used to elucidate their evolutionary radiation within the host taxa.Bat ectoparasites are important groups that should be studied in documenting Philippine biodiversity.

Table 1 .
Sampling sites with coordinates and elevation.

Table 2 .
Summary of ectoparasites and their bat hosts from Marinduque Island.New records (⁕); present on bat host (+); absent on bat host (-).