We present a study of the properties of the star-cluster systems around pseudo-bulges of late-type spiral galaxies using a sample of 11 galaxies with distances from 17 to 37 Mpc .
Star clusters are identified from multiband HST ACS and WFPC2 imaging data by combining detections in 3 bands ( F435W and F814W with ACS and F606W with WFPC2 ) .
The photometric data are then compared to population synthesis models to infer the masses and ages of the star clusters .
Photometric errors and completeness are estimated by means of artificial source Monte Carlo simulations .
Dust extinction is estimated by considering F160W NICMOS observations of the central regions of the galaxies , augmenting our wavelength coverage .
In all galaxies we identify star clusters with a wide range of ages , from young ( age \lesssim 8 Myr ) blue clusters , with typical mass of 10 ^ { 3 } { \mathrm { M } _ { \sun } } to older ( age > 100-250 Myr ) , more massive , red clusters .
Some of the latter might likely evolve into objects similar to the Milky Way ’ s globular clusters .
We compute the specific frequencies for the older clusters with respect to the galaxy and bulge luminosities .
Specific frequencies relative to the galaxy light appear consistent with the globular cluster specific frequencies of early-type spirals .
We compare the specific frequencies relative to the bulge light with the globular cluster specific frequencies of dwarf galaxies , which have a surface-brightness profile that is similar to that of the pseudo-bulges in our sample .
The specific frequencies we derive for our sample galaxies are higher than those of the dwarf galaxies , supporting an evolutionary scenario in which some of the dwarf galaxies might be the remnants of harassed late-type spiral galaxies which hosted a pseudo-bulge .