| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication: | 1989 |
| Authors: | L. E. O. Braack |
| Journal: | Biol. Conservation |
| Volume: | 48 |
| Pagination: | 77-84 |
| Date Published: | 1989 |
| Keywords: | Acari, Ancystropus zeleborii, Arachnida, Arthropoda, caves, Chiroptera, Diptera, ectoparasites, Eucampsipoda africana, food webs, Ischnopsyllidae, Kruger National Park, Nycteribiidae, Ornithodoros faini, parasitism, Pteropodidae, Rousettus aegyptiacus, Siphonaptera, South Africa, Spinturnicidae, Thaumapsylla breviceps |
| Abstract: | The arthropod community associated with an estimated population of 8,000 Rousettus aegyptiacus fruit bats is described. The bats are permanent residents within a 64-m deep split in a sandstone cliff. Transect sampling suggested a floor population in excess of 80,000 Gyna spp. cockroaches. Other cave inhabitants included reduviid bugs preying on the cockroaches, parasitic evaniid and chalcidoid wasps, trogid beetles utilising dead bats, tenebrionid and ptinid beetles, thysanurans, as well as numerous haematophagous argasid ticks and nycteribiid flies using the bats as food source. |