Mite infestation (acari: Laelapidae) of new zealand short-tailed bats, mystacina tuberculata, in captivity

Abstract

An infestation of the endangered New Zealand short-tailed bat, Mystacina tuberculata Gray 1843, by a new species of mesostigmatid mite is described, together with the mite is life history. All six bats of a zoo colony died of septicaemia in circumstances which strongly suggest that the presence of the mites or their feeding caused a severe irritation, wh ich incited the bats to lacerate their own ears. These self-inflicted injuries may have allowed microorganisms, growing on extravasated fluids, to enter the lesions and kill the bats. This type of self-inflicted injury has apparently not been reported before for wild or captive Chiroptera. © 1987 Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.