Haemosporidians infect a wide diversity of bat genera and species, yet little is known about their transmission cycles or epidemiology. Though several recent studies have focused on the genus Hepatocystis, an Old World parasite primarily infecting bats, monkeys, and squirrels, this group is still understudied with little known about its transmission and molecular ecology. These parasites lack an asexual erythrocytic stage, making them unique from the Plasmodium vertebrate life cycle. In this study, we detected a prevalence of 31% of Hepatocystis in short-nosed fruit bats (Cynopterus brachyotis) in Singapore. Phylogenetic reconstruction with a partial cytochrome b sequence revealed a monophyletic group of Hepatocystis from C. brachyotis in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. There was no relationship with infection and bat age, sex, location, body condition or monsoon season. The absence of this parasite in the five other bat species sampled in Singapore indicates this Hepatocystis species may be host restricted.
This data article is about non-volant small mammal (squirrel, rat and tree shrew) capture from fragmented forest understories within sub-urban areas of Setiu (Peladang Agro Resort and Setiu Wetland Research Station) and inhabited areas of Hulu Terengganu (Saok and Lasir waterfalls) that are situated in Terengganu State, Peninsular Malaysia. Fruits like banana and oil palm were individually placed into each cage before the cages were fastened onto three to five meter height tree branches. The traps were also spatially distributed about ten meters from each other. Under this installation, fifty baited traps were used during the twenty-four nights of sample collection. All animals caught were distinguished by morphology and released at the same location it was caught. The understory data comprise of seven non-volant mammal species from family groups Sciuridae, Muridae and Tupaiidae. Overall, Callosciurus notatus (n = 17, 39%) were dominant in the capture pool from all sites. Comparatively, Sundascriurus tenuis (n = 2, 4%) and Rattus rattus (n = 4, 9.3%) were restricted to Saok Waterfalls and Setiu Wetland. Banana and oil palm fruits did not attract any small mammals during the Lasir Waterfall (Hulu Terengganu) survey. All data were interpret into Shannon, Simpson, Margalef, Menhinik and Evenness indices to individually or collectively distinguish small mammal variety in Terengganu State.
Rodents belong to the order Rodentia, which consists of three families in Borneo (i.e., Muridae, Sciuridae and Hystricidae). These include rats, mice, squirrels, and porcupines. They are widespread throughout the world and considered pests that harm humans and livestock. Some rodent species are natural reservoirs of hantaviruses (Family: Bunyaviridae) that can cause zoonotic diseases in humans. Although hantavirus seropositive human sera were reported in Peninsular Malaysia in the early 1980s, information on their infection in rodent species in Malaysia is still lacking. The rodent populations in residential and forested areas in Sarawak were sampled. A total of 108 individuals from 15 species of rodents were collected in residential (n = 44) and forested ( n = 64) areas. The species diversity of rodents in forested areas was significantly higher (H = 2.2342) compared to rodents in residential areas (H = 0.64715) (p < 0.001 of Zar-t test based on the Shannon index). Rattus rattus and Sundamys muelleri were present at high frequencies in both localities. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) showed that hantavirus-targeting antibodies were absent from 53 tested serum samples. This is the first report of hantavirus seroprevalence surveillance in rodent populations in Sarawak, East Malaysia. The results suggested that hantavirus was not circulating in the studied rodent populations in Sarawak, or it was otherwise at a low prevalence that is below the detection threshold. It is important to remain vigilant because of the zoonotic potential of this virus and its severe disease outcome. Further studies, such as molecular detection of viral genetic materials, are needed to fully assess the risk of hantavirus infection in rodents and humans in this region of Malaysia.