First report of the bat fly species Basilia italica in Romania

Abstract

Bat flies are haematophagous ectoparasites, highly specialised to bats and are also considered to have vectorial potential for several pathogens like Bartonella spp. or Polychromophilus spp. In Romania, past studies mostly focused on the ectoparasitic fauna of cave-dwelling bats, listing the occurrence of 10 bat fly species in the country, with only scarce information on bat flies infesting crevice-roosting bat species. Here we report the occurrence of Basilia italica, a rare nycteribiid species infesting primarily forest-dwelling bats. This is the first country-record for Romania and also represents the easternmost occurrence of this species. Further studies are needed to evaluate the vectorial potential of B. italica.

Keywords

• Chiroptera
• distribution
• host-parasite relationsh