Bloodsucking pests like bat fleas and bat flies may not sound very appealing to the rest of us, but to University at Buffalo biologist Katharina Dittmar de la Cruz, Ph.D., they are among the most successful creatures evolution has ever produced.
"From an historical perspective, they have been around forever, they don't die out," said Dittmar, assistant professor of biological sciences in UB's College of Arts and Sciences. "How they have been able to occupy a small ecological niche by adapting to their specific hosts, proliferating and surviving for millions of years is the focus of my research."
By providing a clearer picture of how these potential disease vectors adapt to bats, her research may shed light on White Nose Syndrome, which has killed tens of thousands of bats in the northeastern U.S. and which some feel may parallel the Colony Collapse Disorder that has devastated honey bee colonies in recent years.
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