Paratrichobius longicrus, : Costa Lima, 1921

Autino, Analía Gladys, Idoeta, Fabricio Miguel, Claps, Guillermo Luis & Barquez, Rubén Marcos, 2020, Ectoparasite insects of bats from the fields and weedlands eco-region of Argentina, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 60, pp. 1-9 : 4

Paratrichobius longicrus ( Miranda Ribeiro, 1907)

Trichobius longicrus Miranda Ribeiro, 1907: 236, pl. 25. Paratrichobius longicrus: Costa Lima, 1921: 20 , pl. 1.

Material examined: Corrientes: Yapeyú, 29°28′S, 56°48′W, 12.x.2009, 1 ♀ ( CMLA 723 ) on Eumops patagonicus ♀ ( FMI 135 ). Misiones: Estancia Prates, Barra Concepción, 28°05′S, 55°32′W, 23.iii.2011, 1 ♂ ( CMLA 719 ) on Artibeus lituratus ♂ ( FMI 267 ) ; Reserva Ecológica Tupá Puojhá ( Fachinal ), 27°37′S, 55°43′W, 28.iv.2010, 1 ♂ ( CMLA 724 ) on A. lituratus ♀ ( FMI 200 ) ; Camping Japonés, Arroyo Yabebiry, Loreto , 27°17′S, 55°30′W, 23.xi.2010, 1 ♂ ( CMLA 720 ) on A. lituratus ♂ ( FMI 233 ) ; Osununú , 27°16′S, 55°34′W, 30.xi.2010, 1 ♂ ( CMLA 721 ) sobre A. lituratus ♀ ( FMI 251 ) ; Ruinas Santa María , 27°53′S, 55°20′W, 01.iv.2011, 1 ♂ ( CMLA 722 ) on A. lituratus ♀ ( FMI 297 ) .

Identification: This species is easily recognizable by its very long hind legs, in which the femur reaches or exceeds the tip of the wings. Femur I has a complete row of short setae medial and in parallel a row of six stout spines on the inner face; and the hind femur is nearly as long as the thorax and abdomen combined ( Graciolli & Carvalho, 2001).

Comments: This species is parasitic to several bats of the family Phyllostomidae , mainly of the genus Artibeus (Wenzel et al., 1966) , although it has also been record- ed in Molossidae and Noctilionidae ( Graciolli & Carvalho, 2001) . In Argentina, it has only been cited on Artibeus lituratus (Autino et al., 1998, 2000b, 2018). A very remarkable characteristic of this species are their very long hind legs, with femurs that reach, or exceed, the tips of the wings, which are also long.