Dr. Kassai Tibor - Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 9. (Budapest, 1976)

Cestodes of Bats in Hungary Dr. Éva MURAI Zoological Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest "Cestodes of bats in Hungary." - Murai, É. - Parasit. Hung. JL.41-62. 1976. ABSTRACT. Systematic and faunistic studies of the tapeworms found in 792 bats belonging to 19 species showed that 4 Cestode species are occurring in the bats indigenous in Hungary. Among the bats examined, 20% harboured tapeworms. The tapeworm Myotolepis grisea (Beneden, 1873) Tenora et Barus, 1960 was found in Myotis myotis, M. blythi oxygnathus, Eptesicus serotinus and Rhinolophus ferrumequinum; Vampirolepis acuta (Rudolphi, 1819) nov. comb, occurred in M. myotis, M. nattereri, Nyctalus noctula, E. serotinus and Plecotus austriacus; V. balsaci (Joyeux et Baer, 19 34) Spassky, 1954 was found in M. myotis, and Vampirolepis baeri sp. n. , described by the authoress on the basis of specimens studied in Hungary and Switzerland, was found to be a parasite of Nyctalus noctula. Tapeworms parasitizing in the bat species indigenous in Hungary had not previously been studied. In other parts of the Carpathian basin in bat hosts Slovakian authors (TENORA and BARUS, 1960; MITUCH, 1964) reported the occurrence of three tapeworm species: Myotolepis grisea (Beneden, 1873) Tenora et Barus, 1960; Vampirolepis balsaci (Joyeux et Baer, 1934) Spassky, 1954; V. rysavyi Tenora et Barus, 1960. MATSKASI (1967, 1968, 1975) found 19 Trematode species, and MÉSZÁROS (1966, 1967, 1971) 16 Nematode species in bats in Hungary. The present studies were carried out to clarify the systematic position of the tapeworm parasites of bats indigenous in Hungary and to report the related faunistic data. Material and Methods A total of 792 bats were used for parasitological examinations in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, from 1965 to 1974. The capturing of the hosts, belonging to 19 species, were organized by Gy. TOPÁL, mammalogist, in 47 different localities of the country and conducted by the team of the Parasitological Collection (I. MATSKASI, F. MÉSZÁROS, Éva MURAI, I. SZABÓ, Etelka VAJDA), as well as by M. JANISCH, parasitologist and F. HAÁSZ, university student, assisting in the programme as external collaborators. The data of the hosts are shown in Table 1. Infection by tapeworms was demonstrated in 20% (159) of the captured bats, and the parasites recovered from them represented the following 4 species: M. grisea (Beneden, 1873) Tenora et Barus, 1960; V. balsaci (Joyeux et Baer, 1934) Spassky, 1954; V. acuta (Rudolphi, 1819) n. comb.; V. baeri sp. n. The bat Hymenolepidids found in the collection of the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, were resorted to for comparative studies in species identification. The authoress is indebted for the courtesy of the late Professor Jean G. BAER, deceased in 1975, and Professor Claude VAUCHER, for making possible the comparative studies. Most bats were captured alive; the few shot by a rifle were autopsied immediately, to recover live parasites from the gut as far as possible. The tapeworms were fixed and stored in 70% ethanol, from 1969 in hot 5% formaline solution prepared in phys. saline. Hooks and eggs were examined in BERLESE solution, and some of the worms were preparated by staining with carmine in hydrochloric acid.