Eristalis flower flies can be mechanical vectors of the common trypanosome bee parasite, Crithidia bombi.

Autor: Davis AE; Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA. aed236@cornell.edu.; Department of Environmental and Rural Science, The University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia. aed236@cornell.edu., Deutsch KR; Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA., Torres AM; Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA., Mata Loya MJ; Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA., Cody LV; Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA., Harte E; Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA., Sossa D; Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA., Muñiz PA; Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA., Ng WH; Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA., McArt SH; Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2021 Aug 04; Vol. 11 (1), pp. 15852. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Aug 04.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-95323-w
Abstrakt: Flowers can be transmission platforms for parasites that impact bee health, yet bees share floral resources with other pollinator taxa, such as flies, that may be hosts or non-host vectors (i.e., mechanical vectors) of parasites. Here, we assessed whether the fecal-orally transmitted gut parasite of bees, Crithidia bombi, can infect Eristalis tenax flower flies. We also investigated the potential for two confirmed solitary bee hosts of C. bombi, Osmia lignaria and Megachile rotundata, as well as two flower fly species, Eristalis arbustorum and E. tenax, to transmit the parasite at flowers. We found that C. bombi did not replicate (i.e., cause an active infection) in E. tenax flies. However, 93% of inoculated flies defecated live C. bombi in their first fecal event, and all contaminated fecal events contained C. bombi at concentrations sufficient to infect bumble bees. Flies and bees defecated inside the corolla (flower) more frequently than other plant locations, and flies defecated at volumes comparable to or greater than bees. Our results demonstrate that Eristalis flower flies are not hosts of C. bombi, but they may be mechanical vectors of this parasite at flowers. Thus, flower flies may amplify or dilute C. bombi in bee communities, though current theoretical work suggests that unless present in large populations, the effects of mechanical vectors will be smaller than hosts.
(© 2021. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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