title: Comparative rectal bacterial flora of four species of flying fox (Pteropus sp.).
abstract: The rectal anaerobic and aerobic bacterial flora of four species of flying foxes were determined and compared. Four bacterial species were found in > or = 1 individual from each bat species at a significant (> or = 10%) level of the bacterial population: alpha-hemolytic Streptococcus sp. (41 of 56 bats), Enterococcus sp. (25/56), Escherichia coli (21/ 56), and group D Streptococcus sp., not Enterococcus sp. (9/56). Five other microbial species were also found in all four flying fox species, but at less significant percentages (found in at least one bat species, > or = 5% and < or = 10% of the recovered microbial population). These were nonhemolytic Streptococcus sp. (30/56), yeast (26/56), Corynebacterium sp. (25/56), Staphylococcus sp. (25/56), and Staphylococcus aureus (22/56). The majority of the species found were gram-positive, and only two obligate anaerobes, a Lactobacillus and a Bacteroides sp., were recovered from one bat.
authors.affiliation: Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville 32610-0126, USA.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Heard
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: De Young
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goodyear
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Ellis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000382:microbiology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D012007:Rectum / Q000382:microbiology*; D013045:Species Specificity