Term of Award
Summer 2025
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biology (M.S.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (open access)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Biology
Committee Chair
Dr. Stephen E. Greiman
Committee Member 1
Dr. Joshua D. Gibson
Committee Member 2
Dr. Dmitry A. Apanaskevich
Abstract
Bats (Chiroptera) are highly diverse and serve as excellent hosts of endoparasites due to their diverse diets. There are around 1,100 species of bats worldwide and approximately 120 in panama. Digeneans (Platyhelminthes:Trematoda) are parasitic flatworms with complex life cycles mainly requiring a mollusk first intermediate host, a second intermediate host that could be an invertebrate or vertebrate, and a vertebrate definitive host. Field collection trips in the Darién (2023) and Kuna Yala (2016) regions of Panama resulted in a sample of 338 small mammals (322 bats, 14 rodents, and 2 opossums). Digeneans were found in 85 bats (22 species) and 1 rodent. The most common bat hosts infected with digeneans were Myotis nigricans (n=32 infected, 74.42% prevalence, average species richness 1.66), Phyllostomus discolor (n=11, 45.83% 1.09), Saccopteryx bilineata (n=5, 100%, 2.4) and Phyllostomus hastatus (n=5, 35.71%, 1.0). The average species richness for all infected hosts was 1.5. Using morphological and molecular (28S rDNA and coi mtDNA genes) data we identified 15 unique digenean species from 7 genera, including 2 species from a new genus. Six digenean samples, all of which were identified as the same species of Ochoterenatrema, from 5 Myotis nigricans bats were found to be infected with a single species of Neorickettsia. Our phylogenetic analysis of the GroESL rRNA gene show our species to be most closely related to Neorickettsia risticii.
Recommended Citation
McFarland, Alexander T., "Digenean Trematode Diversity of Bats in Panama and the Detection of Neorickettsia in a Bat Digenean" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2964.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/2964
Research Data and Supplementary Material
No
