Spinturnicid mites of bats in Albania – host spectrum and morphometrics as a tool of species separation

Abstract

We recorded 10 species of parasitic spinturnicids on bats in Albania. Eyndhovenia euryalis euryalis was collected on Rhinolophus euryale and R. ferrumequinum; Spinturnix acuminata on Nyctalus noctula; S. emarginata on Myotis emarginatus; S. helvetiae on N. leisleri; S. kolenatii on Eptesicus serotinus; S. myoti on M. capaccinii, M. nattereri, M. myotis and M. oxygnathus; S. mystacina on M. mystacinus; S. nobleti on Hypsugo savii; S. plecotina on Plecotus auritus, P. austriacus and P. macrobullaris; and S. psi on Miniopterus schreibersii and M. capaccinii. All mite species recorded are new for the Albanian fauna and three are new for the Balkans. Plecotus macrobullaris is a new host species for S. plecotina. We confirmed low levels of mite species co-occurrence on the same bat hosts. All mite species included in the present study were separable based on their measurements, with idiosoma length and width and dorsal shield length as the most important characters.

Keywords:

• Acari
• ectoparasites
• Spinturnicidae
• Chiroptera
• the Balkans
• morphometrics

Acknowledgements

We thank Alek Rachwald and Michał Piskorski for help during fieldwork. We are indebted to Elvana Ramaj (Albanian Ministry of Environment, Tirana), Tine Meyer-Cords (EUROBATS) and Wiesław Bogdanowicz for their kind collaboration. This work was supported by the EUROBATS Projects Initiative.