Jg. Esteban et al., Composition and structure of helminth communities in two populations of Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Chiroptera : Vespertilionidae) from Spain, FOL PARASIT, 48(2), 2001, pp. 143-148
The community composition and structure of helminths of Pipistrellus pipist
rellus (Schreber, 1774) from two widely separated Spanish localities, El Sa
ler (n = 42) and the San Pedro pothole (n = 34), were determined and compar
ed. Five species of trematodes, Plagiorchis (Plagiorchis) sp., Lecithodendr
ium (Lecithodendrium) linstowi Dollfus, 1931, Prosthodendrium (Prosthodendr
ium) sp., Pycnoporus heteroporus (Dujardin, 1845) and Parabascus semisquamo
sus (Braun, 1900), and one species of cestode, Hymenolepis pipistrelli Lope
z-Neyra, 1941, were found. The two bat populations harboured the same helmi
nth species and showed the same trematode dominance, but the most important
differences between the two helminth community structures were attributabl
e to L. (L.) linstowi and H. pipistrelli. The mean species richness in the
two localities was not significantly different. The mean number of helminth
species per infected bat, mean infracommunity abundance and mean infracomm
unity diversity showed significant differences between both localities. The
number of helminths per bat in both populations displayed an aggregated di
stribution. Results indicate that the different characteristics of the P. p
ipistrellus foraging area in both localities are important in determining t
he composition and structure of helminth communities in this bat species. T
his is the first study of a Palaearctic bat helminth community.