Publications

henipavirus and tioman virus antibodies in pteropodid bats, madagascar.	specimens were obtained from the 3 malagasy fruit bats, pteropus rufus, eidolon dupreanum, and rousettus madagascariensis. antibodies against nipah, hendra, and tioman viruses were detected by immunoassay in 23 and by serum neutralization tests in 3 of 427 serum samples, which suggests that related viruses have circulated in madagascar.	2007	17370536
cone photoreceptor diversity in the retinas of fruit bats (megachiroptera).	older studies have claimed that bats including the megachiroptera (fruit bats or flying foxes) have pure-rod retinas and possess no cone photoreceptors. we have determined the presence and the population densities of spectral cone types in six megachiropteran species belonging to four genera: pteropus rufus, p. niger, p. rodricensis, rousettus madagascariensis, eidolon dupreanum, and epomophorus gambianus. spectral cone types and rods were assessed immunocytochemically with opsin-specific antibo ...	2007	17522478
laboratory surveillance of rabies in humans, domestic animals, and bats in madagascar from 2005 to 2010.	background. rabies virus (rabv) has circulated in madagascar at least since the 19th century. objectives. to assess the circulation of lyssavirus in the island from 2005 to 2010. materials and methods. animal (including bats) and human samples were tested for rabv and other lyssavirus using antigen, ribonucleic acid (rna), and antibodies detection and virus isolation. results. half of the 437 domestic or tame wild terrestrial mammal brains tested were found rabv antigen positive, including 54% o ...	2011	21991442
bartonella spp. in fruit bats and blood-feeding ectoparasites in madagascar.	we captured, ectoparasite-combed, and blood-sampled cave-roosting madagascan fruit bats (eidolon dupreanum) and tree-roosting madagascan flying foxes (pteropus rufus) in four single-species roosts within a sympatric geographic foraging range for these species in central madagascar. we describe infection with novel bartonella spp. in sampled eidolon dupreanum and associated bat flies (cyclopodia dubia), which nest close to or within major known bartonella lineages; simultaneously, we report the a ...	2015	25706653
detection of new genetic variants of betacoronaviruses in endemic frugivorous bats of madagascar.	bats are amongst the natural reservoirs of many coronaviruses (covs) of which some can lead to severe infection in human. african bats are known to harbor a range of pathogens (e.g., ebola and marburg viruses) that can infect humans and cause disease outbreaks. a recent study in south africa isolated a genetic variant closely related to mers-cov from an insectivorous bat. though madagascar is home to 44 bat species (41 insectivorous and 3 frugivorous) of which 34 are endemic, no data exists conc ...	2015	25888853
using stable isotopes to infer the impacts of habitat change on the diets and vertical stratification of frugivorous bats in madagascar.	human-modified habitats are expanding rapidly; many tropical countries have highly fragmented and degraded forests. preserving biodiversity in these areas involves protecting species-like frugivorous bats-that are important to forest regeneration. fruit bats provide critical ecosystem services including seed dispersal, but studies of how their diets are affected by habitat change have often been rather localized. this study used stable isotope analyses (δ15n and δ13c measurement) to examine how ...	2016	27097316
hidden diversity of nycteribiidae (diptera) bat flies from the malagasy region and insights on host-parasite interactions.	we present information on nycteribiidae flies parasitizing the bat families pteropodidae, miniopteridae and vespertilionidae from the malagasy region, contributing insight into their diversity and host preference.	2017	29284533
disentangling serology to elucidate henipa- and filovirus transmission in madagascar fruit bats.	bats are reservoirs for emerging human pathogens, including hendra and nipah henipaviruses and ebola and marburg filoviruses. these viruses demonstrate predictable patterns in seasonality and age structure across multiple systems; previous work suggests that they may circulate in madagascar's endemic fruit bats, which are widely consumed as human food. we aimed to (a) document the extent of henipa- and filovirus exposure among malagasy fruit bats, (b) explore seasonality in seroprevalence and se ...	2019	30908623
population trends for two malagasy fruit bats.	madagascar is home to three endemic species of old world fruit bat, which are important pollinators and seed dispersers. we aimed to quantitatively assess population trajectories for the two largest of these species, the iucn-listed 'vulnerable' eidolon dupreanum and pteropus rufus. to this end, we conducted a longitudinal field study, in which we live-captured e. dupreanum and p. rufus, estimated species-specific fecundity rates, and generated age-frequency data via histological analysis of cem ...	2019	31937976