The diet of bats from Southeastern Brazil: the relation to echolocation and foraging behaviour

Fenton, M. Brock; Whitaker Jr, John O; Vonhof, Maarten J; Waterman, Jane M; Pedro, Wagner A; Aguiar, Ludmilla M.S; Baumgarten, Júlio E; Bouchard, Sylvie; Faria, Deborah M; Portfors, Christine V; Rautenbach, Naas I.L; Scully, William; Zortea, Marlon

doi:10.1590/S0101-81751999000400017

Abstract

In this study the incidence of moths and beetles was examined from feces samples of bats that use different foraging behaviors. Twenty sites around the Fazenda Intervales, a Field Research Station located in São Paulo State, in southeastern Brazil were sampled. Feces were collected from bats caught in mist nets, Turtle Traps or hand nets and, in one case, from beneath a roost. Feces samples were taken from six species of bats: Micronycteris megalotis (Gray, 1842), Mimon bennettii (Gray, 1838), Furipterus horrens (F. Cuvier, 1828), Myotis riparius Handley, 1960, Myotis ruber (E. Geoffroy, 1806) and Histiotus velalus (I. Geoffroy, 1824). To record and describe the frequencies dominating bat echolocation calls, an Anabat II bat detector coupled with an Anabat ZCA interfaces and DOS laptop computers were used. The data show that Furipterus horrens feeds extensively on moths, as predicted from the features of its echolocation calls. Gleaning bats, whose echolocation calls are much less conspicuous to moths take a wide range of insect (and other) prey.

Chiroptera; diet; echolocation; foraging behaviour; southeastern Brazil

The diet of bats from Southeastern Brazil: the relation to echolocation and foraging behaviour

M. Brock Fenton^I,^* * Corresponding author: M. Brock Fenton. E-mail: bfenton@circus.yorku.ca ; John O. Whitaker Jr.^II; Maarten J. Vonhof^I; Jane M. Waterman^I; Wagner A. Pedro^III; Ludmilla M.S. Aguiar^IV; Júlio E. Baumgarten^V; Sylvie Bouchard^I; Deborah M. Faria^V; Christine V. Portfors^VI; Naas I.L. Rautenbach^VII; William Scully^I; Marlon Zortea^VIII

^IDepartment of Biology, York University. North York, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Canada

^IIDepartment of Life Sciences, Indiana State University. Terre Haute, Indiana 47809, USA

^IIIDepartamento de Apoio, Produção e Saúde Animal, Universidade Estadual Paulista. Caixa Postal 341, 16050-680 Araçatuba, São Paulo, Brasil

^IVDepartamento de Ecologia, Universidade de Brasília. Campus Asa Norte, 70919-970 Brasília, Distrito Federal. Brazil

^VDepartamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Campinas. Caixa Postal 6109, 13083-970 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

^VIDepartment of Neurobiology, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. 4209 State Route 44, Post Office Box 95, Rootstown, Ohio 44272-0095, USA

^VIITransvaal Museum. Post Office Box 413, Pretoria, South Africa

^VIIIMuseu de Biologia Professor Mello Leitão. 29650-000 Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo, Brazil

ABSTRACT

In this study the incidence of moths and beetles was examined from feces samples of bats that use different foraging behaviors. Twenty sites around the Fazenda Intervales, a Field Research Station located in São Paulo State, in southeastern Brazil were sampled. Feces were collected from bats caught in mist nets, Turtle Traps or hand nets and, in one case, from beneath a roost. Feces samples were taken from six species of bats: Micronycteris megalotis (Gray, 1842), Mimon bennettii (Gray, 1838), Furipterus horrens (F. Cuvier, 1828), Myotis riparius Handley, 1960, Myotis ruber (E. Geoffroy, 1806) and Histiotus velalus (I. Geoffroy, 1824). To record and describe the frequencies dominating bat echolocation calls, an Anabat II bat detector coupled with an Anabat ZCA interfaces and DOS laptop computers were used. The data show that Furipterus horrens feeds extensively on moths, as predicted from the features of its echolocation calls. Gleaning bats, whose echolocation calls are much less conspicuous to moths take a wide range of insect (and other) prey.

Key words: Chiroptera, diet, echolocation, foraging behaviour, southeastern Brazil.

Full text available only in PDF format.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. We thank E. Trajano for making the arrangements for working at Fazenda Intervales. We are grateful to D.S. Johnston for reading an earlier version of the manuscript and providing us with comments and to M.K. Obrist for sharing with us his unpublished data about the echolocation calls of

Mimon betmettii.

This study was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada) research grant to MBF and by a grant from a Foundation for Research Development (South Africa) grant allocated from the "Inland Resources Programme" to ILR.

Recebido em 16.VI.1998; aceito em 29.IX.1999.

¹
Alonso-Mejía & RA. Medellin. 1991. Micronycteris megalotis. Mammalian Species 376: 1-6.
Bell, G.P. 1982. Behavioral and ecological aspects of gleaning by desert insectivorous bat, Antrozous pallidus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 10: 217-223.
Faure, P.A.; J.H. Fullard & R.M.R. Barclay. 1990. The response of tympanate moths to the echolocation calls of a substrate gleaning bat, Myotis evotis. Jour. Comp. Physiol. A 166: 843-849.
Fenton, M.B.; D. Audet; M.K. Obrist & J. Rydell. 1995. Signal strength, timing and self-deafening: the evolution of echolocation in bats. Paleobiology 21: 229-242.
Fullard, J.H. 1987. Sensory ecology and neuroethology of moths and bats: interactions in a global perspective, p.244-272. In: M.B. Fenton; P.A. Racey & J.M.V. Rayner (Eds). Recent advances in the study of bats. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 350p.
Fullard, J.H. & J.W. Dawson. 1997. The echolocation calls of the spotted bat, Euderma maculatum are relatively inaudible to moths. Jour. Exp. Biol. 200: 129-137.
Hovorka, M.D.; C.S. Marks & E. Muller. 1996. An improved chemiluminescent tag for bats. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 24: 709-712.
Jones, G. 1992. Bats vs. moths: studies on the diets of rhinolophid and hipposiderid bats support the allotonic frequency hypothesis, p.87-92. In: I. Horacek & V. Vohralik (Eds). Prague studies in mammalogy. Prague, Charles University Press, 380p.
Morrill, S.B. & J.H. Fullard. 1992. Auditory influences on the flight behaviour of moths inaNearctic site. I. Flight tendency. Can. Jour. Zool. 70: 1097-1101.
Ortega, J., H.T. Arita. 1997. Mimon bennettii. Mammalian Species 549: 1-4.
Pedro, W.A.; C.A.K. Komeno & V.A. Taddei. 1994. Morphometries and biological notes on Mimon crenulatum (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). Bol. Mus. Paraens. Emilio Goeldi, ser. Zool., 10: 107-112.
Rydell, J. & A. Arlettaz. 1994. Low-frequency echolocation enables the bat Tadarida teniotis to feed on tympanate insects. Proc. Roy. Soc. London B. 257: 175-178.
Rydell, J.; G. Jones & D. Waters. 1995. Echolocating bats and hearing moths: who are the winners? Oikos 73: 419-424.
Rydell, J. & D.W. Yalden. 1997. The diets of two high-flying bats from Africa. Jour. Zool., London, 242: 69-76.
Trajano, E. 1996. Movements of cave bats in southeastern Brazil, with emphasis on the population ecology of the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus (Chiroptera). Biotropica 28: 121-129.
Tuttle, M.D. 1974. An improved trap for bats. Jour. Mammal. 55: 475-477.
Uieda, W.; I. Sazima & A. Storti-Filho. 1980. Aspectos da biologia do morcego Furipterus horrens (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Furipteridae). Rev. Brasil. Biol. 42: 505-513.
Whitaker Jr., J.O.. 1988. Food habiats analysis of insectivorous bats, p.171-189. In: T.H. Kunz (Ed.). Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press, 544p.
Yager, D.D. & H.G. Spangler. 1997. Behavioral response to ultrasound by the tiger beetle Cicindela marutha Dow combines aerodynamic changes and sound production. Jour. Exp. Biol. 200: 649-659.

*

Corresponding author: M. Brock Fenton. E-mail:

bfenton@circus.yorku.ca

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
19 June 2009
Date of issue
1999

History

Received
16 June 1998
Accepted
29 Sept 1999

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

[1] ¹
Alonso-Mejía & RA. Medellin. 1991. Micronycteris megalotis. Mammalian Species 376: 1-6.

[2] Bell, G.P. 1982. Behavioral and ecological aspects of gleaning by desert insectivorous bat, Antrozous pallidus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 10: 217-223.

[3] Faure, P.A.; J.H. Fullard & R.M.R. Barclay. 1990. The response of tympanate moths to the echolocation calls of a substrate gleaning bat, Myotis evotis. Jour. Comp. Physiol. A 166: 843-849.

[4] Fenton, M.B.; D. Audet; M.K. Obrist & J. Rydell. 1995. Signal strength, timing and self-deafening: the evolution of echolocation in bats. Paleobiology 21: 229-242.

[5] Fullard, J.H. 1987. Sensory ecology and neuroethology of moths and bats: interactions in a global perspective, p.244-272. In: M.B. Fenton; P.A. Racey & J.M.V. Rayner (Eds). Recent advances in the study of bats. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 350p.

[6] Fullard, J.H. & J.W. Dawson. 1997. The echolocation calls of the spotted bat, Euderma maculatum are relatively inaudible to moths. Jour. Exp. Biol. 200: 129-137.

[7] Hovorka, M.D.; C.S. Marks & E. Muller. 1996. An improved chemiluminescent tag for bats. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 24: 709-712.

[8] Jones, G. 1992. Bats vs. moths: studies on the diets of rhinolophid and hipposiderid bats support the allotonic frequency hypothesis, p.87-92. In: I. Horacek & V. Vohralik (Eds). Prague studies in mammalogy. Prague, Charles University Press, 380p.

[9] Morrill, S.B. & J.H. Fullard. 1992. Auditory influences on the flight behaviour of moths inaNearctic site. I. Flight tendency. Can. Jour. Zool. 70: 1097-1101.

[10] Ortega, J., H.T. Arita. 1997. Mimon bennettii. Mammalian Species 549: 1-4.

[11] Pedro, W.A.; C.A.K. Komeno & V.A. Taddei. 1994. Morphometries and biological notes on Mimon crenulatum (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). Bol. Mus. Paraens. Emilio Goeldi, ser. Zool., 10: 107-112.

[12] Rydell, J. & A. Arlettaz. 1994. Low-frequency echolocation enables the bat Tadarida teniotis to feed on tympanate insects. Proc. Roy. Soc. London B. 257: 175-178.

[13] Rydell, J.; G. Jones & D. Waters. 1995. Echolocating bats and hearing moths: who are the winners? Oikos 73: 419-424.

[14] Rydell, J. & D.W. Yalden. 1997. The diets of two high-flying bats from Africa. Jour. Zool., London, 242: 69-76.

[15] Trajano, E. 1996. Movements of cave bats in southeastern Brazil, with emphasis on the population ecology of the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus (Chiroptera). Biotropica 28: 121-129.

[16] Tuttle, M.D. 1974. An improved trap for bats. Jour. Mammal. 55: 475-477.

[17] Uieda, W.; I. Sazima & A. Storti-Filho. 1980. Aspectos da biologia do morcego Furipterus horrens (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Furipteridae). Rev. Brasil. Biol. 42: 505-513.

[18] Whitaker Jr., J.O.. 1988. Food habiats analysis of insectivorous bats, p.171-189. In: T.H. Kunz (Ed.). Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press, 544p.

[19] Yager, D.D. & H.G. Spangler. 1997. Behavioral response to ultrasound by the tiger beetle Cicindela marutha Dow combines aerodynamic changes and sound production. Jour. Exp. Biol. 200: 649-659.