Effects of Prior Infestation on Host Choice of Bat Flies (Diptera: Streblidae)

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Experimental approaches provide insight into the dynamics of species competition and coexistence, but studies of ectoparasitic arthropods are rare. Host choice experiments were undertaken in Amazonian Peru, by using obligate bat ßy parasites of SebaÕs short-tailed bat, Carollia perspicillata (L.). The ßy species Trichobius joblingi Wenzel strongly preferred clean hosts to those previously infested with individuals of T. joblingi. Abundance thresholds may limit conspeciÞc parasites on host individuals, and similar morphologies and habitat use may increase intraspeciÞc competition among individuals of T. joblingi. T. joblingi did not distinguish between clean hosts and those previously infested with ßies of another species, Speiseria ambigua Kessel. Results suggest that the presence of a morphologically dissimilar species does not preclude subsequent colonization. Differential microhabitat selection, aided by adaptive morphology, may facilitate species coexistence among ectoparasitic bat ßy species.