Helminth Fauna of Bats of the Rostov Region: Review. 2. Trematoda

Introduction. The class of Trematoda includes two subclasses — Aspidogastrea and Digenea. Representatives of the former do not parasitize in bats. The definitive hosts for digenetic trematodes (Digenea) are vertebrates, including bats, in which the sexual generation (maritae) parasitizes. Gastropods or bivalves are the intermediate hosts. Supplementary hosts for the trematodes of bats are larvae and imagos of flying insects. Since in most cases the development of parthenites and cercariae of trematodes is related to water environment, the supplementary hosts are the groups of insects whose larvae live in the water. The list of bat species living in the Rostov region has been compiled in the previous research. In the present article the authors investigate the trematode fauna parasitizing in bats of the region under study. The aim of this review is to analyse the current state of knowledge on the species composition of the helminth parasitizing in chiropterans of the Rostov region.

Materials and Methods. The research materials have been obtained from the libraries and open access resources: PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), CyberLeninka (cyberleninka.ru), Google Scholar (scholar.google.com), BHL (www.biodiversitylibrary.org), JSTOR (www.jstor.org). Some data has been provided by the colleagues.

Results. 42 trematode species from 10 genera, 5 families and 1 order can parasitize in 15 bat species living in the Rostov region. The Lecithodendriidae family (24 species) and the genus Paralecithodendrium (9 species) are represented by a large number of species. Of the listed trematodes, 33 species used to be recorded on the territory of Russia.

Discussion and Conclusion. The results of the conducted systematic review have revealed that the largest number of trematode species parasitizes in two bat species living in the Rostov region: the common noctule (27 species) and the serotine bat (24 species). The smallest number of species (4 per each) is found in the giant noctule and the soprano pipistrelle bat. Two species (Plagiorchis elegans and Plagiorchis vespertilionis) have been found in the companion cats and dogs includingly, wheras a case of the latter parazitising in humans has also been recorded. The presence of bats in the urban environment enables the full life cycle of these trematodes. There exists possibility of the companion animals and people to get infected through incidental ingestion of the infested insects.

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