Hitchhiking Parasites: Unstructured Populations of Bat Ectoparasites Reveal Host-Driven Dispersal.

ABSTRACT: Understanding factors influencing the dynamics and distribution of parasites is essential to decipher the mechanism behind their spread and the identification of populations with elevated risks of infection. Bats-together with the diverse parasites they host and the influence of their social behaviour on parasitism-offer a suitable system. We investigated the extent to which differences in life history traits between parasite species found on the same host influence their dispersal dynamics across bat metapopulations. To do so, we compared the population genetic structure of two obligate ectoparasites of the same bat, the Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii): the specialist wing mite Spinturnix andegavinus and the more generalist bat fly Nycteribia kolenatii, and we expected the bat fly to

SUBMITTER: Castex C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12946773 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature