| Summary: | Bats are hosts of diverse coronaviruses (CoVs) known to potentially cross the
host–species barrier. For analysing coronavirus diversity in a bat species-rich
country, a total of 421 anal swabs/faecal samples from Costa Rican bats were
screened for CoV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene sequences by a
pancoronavirus PCR. Six families, 24 genera and 41 species of bats were analysed.
The detection rate for CoV was 1%. Individuals (n = 4) from four different
species of frugivorous (Artibeus jamaicensis, Carollia perspicillata and Carollia
castanea) and nectivorous (Glossophaga soricina) bats were positive for coronavi-
rus-derived nucleic acids. Analysis of 440 nt. RdRp sequences allocated all Costa
Rican bat CoVs to the a-CoV group. Several CoVs sequences clustered near
previously described CoVs from the same species of bat, but were phylogeneti-
cally distant from the human CoV sequences identified to date, suggesting no
recent spillover events. The Glossophaga soricina CoV sequence is sufficiently dis-
similar (26% homology to the closest known bat CoVs) to represent a unique
coronavirus not clustering near other CoVs found in the same bat species so far,
implying an even higher CoV diversity than previously suspected.
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