Litomosoides (Nemata: Filarioidea) of Bats from Bolivia with Records for Three Known Species and the Description of a New Species

Herein, we describe Litomosoides salazari n. sp. collected from the body cavity of the yellow bat, Lasiurus ega, from Bolivia. This new species of filarioid nematode is most closely related to the carinii group and is characterized by its relatively small size with the vulva located slightly posterior to the esophago-intestinal junction; an arrow-shaped buccal capsule; and a short, rounded tail. New host and locality records for both Litomosoides hamletti and L. chandleri in phyllostomid bats, and L. brasiliensis occurring in both phyllostomid and vespertilionid bats, are provided. The morphological variability of the specimens is documented by providing comparative measurements of 3 known species. Litomosoides brasiliensis occurs in 6 species of bats from Bolivia and was the most common species of filarioid nematode encountered. All 4 species of nematodes, including the new species, were found in sympatry at Chijchijpa, a locality in the Yungas of Bolivia. Bolivia is a country of great biological diversity (Anderson, 1997), with more than 300 species of mammals occurring there. Of these, approximately 5% are endemic, occurring nowhere else (Anderson, 1997). More than 100 species of bats have been identified from within the country (Anderson, 1997; Simmons, 2005). This great diversity is a result of a confluence of several biomes conjoining in the area, including high-altitude Andes and Puna-Altiplano, the Yungas in the eastern foothills of the Andes, Amazon tropical forest in the northeast, and a mixture of grassland and chaco thorn forest coming in from the southern and eastern lowlands (Unzueta, 1975). Filarioid nematodes of Litomosoides Chandler, 1931 occur in the body cavities of bats, marsupials, and sigmodontine and hystricognath rodents throughout the Neotropical and southern Nearctic regions. Showing relatively high taxonomic diversity with approximately 30 described species, these nemas exhibit an indirect pattern of transmission between mammalian hosts, with all known life cycles requiring an arthropod vector or interme- diate host to transfer microfilariae between and among definitive hosts (Bain et al., 1980). As a result of the continuing work on the biodiversity of mammals of Bolivia as part of the Bolivian Parasite Biodiversity Project, we report herein the results of our work on the filarioid nematodes of bats from Bolivia. This work, funded by the National Science Foundation, was undertaken as a collaborative