Neotropical Bats play natural predators of medically important Culicidae

Biocontrol by neotropical bats

Abstract

Arthropodophagous bats are crucial to suppressing pest insect species, particularly those of human health interest, such as mosquitoes of the family Culicidae, which are vectors of several diseases.  Reports of culicid mosquitoes in the diet of bats are scarce, especially in tropical areas where diseases in which mosquitoes are vectors proliferate.  This study aimed to evaluate the presence of culicids in the diet of neotropical arthropodophagous bats using high-throughput sequencing.  We specifically aimed to assess bats as biological control agents and determine the presence of culicid mosquitoes in their diet using two sets of COI primers.  We assess the presence of culicid mosquitoes in the feces of bats belonging to different families, environments, and foraging strata in several neotropical regions.  We compare richness, percentage of reads, and incidence of genera of Culicidae identified with each primers’ set.  Seventeen of the 19 bat species studied show consumption of culicids.  The two primers’ sets yielded dissimilar results regarding several reads and culicid species and/or genera taxonomic levels.  Our findings indicate that bats from different families and foraging habits are biological control agents consuming different species of mosquitoes associated with diseases affecting the health of humans.