Structure of the Interaction Networks Between Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) and Ectoparasite Flies (Diptera: Streblidae, Nycteribiidae) on a Latitudinal Gradient

The study of parasites and their distributions is an important tool to understand the problems related to population dynamics and the evolution of the interactions between parasites and their hosts. Due in part to the unique adaptations of this group, bats are parasitized by many arthropod lineages, and the flies of the Streblidae and Nycteribiidae families are considered the most conspicuous. Network analysis is an approach that has been growing in recent decades and has contributed greatly to the understanding of ecological systems. The objective of this study is to analyze if the structure of the bat-ectoparasitic networks are consistent along a latitudinal gradient on a global scale. We searched the scientific literature for information about the relationship of bats and their ectoparasitic dipterans of Streblidae and Nycteribiidae using the Scopus, Google Scholar and PubMed databases. For each publication, nesting, connectivity, and modularity parameters were calculated for each network of bats and flies. In order to evaluate if the structure of the networks varies along the latitudinal gradient, we constructed generalized linear models. In general, we observed that the ectoparasite-bat interaction networks have a highly modular structure with low nesting and connectivity values, which is a pattern commonly presented by networks of antagonistic interactions. We also observed that the size of the network significantly influenced the nesting, connectivity and modularity, possibly due to the highly specialized nature of the ectoparasite-bat interaction. The latitude was positively correlated to the connectivity, which can be explained by the lower diversity observed in temperate regions.