Foraging by Mediterranean Horseshoe Bats (Rhinolophus euryale) in Relation to Prey Distribution and Edge Habitat

Goiti, Urtzi; Garin, Iñazio; Almenar, David; Salsamendi, Egoitz; Aihartza, Joxerra

doi:10.1644/07-mamm-a-054r2.1

Cited by 44 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…We therefore concluded that moths play a crucial role in foraging during the winter activity of this species. This is consistent with data from the active season, as this horseshoe bat is characterized as a moth-eater [12,14]. The diversity of foraged insect species changes during the year; it is more limited at the end of the season and during the more inhospitable climatic conditions, when the proportion of the main foraged group increases [12,14,27].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…R. euryale has been reported feeding close to vegetation, with moths as the main prey [12]. However, the nematocerans, beetles and lacewings could also play an important role in some habitats or in certain seasons [13][14][15]. In the Slovakian/Hungarian border zone an isolated population of Rhinolophus euryale occurs -at the very north of its range [16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Winter diet analysis in Rhinolophus euryale (Chiroptera)

et al. 2013

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We investigated the winter food of Mediterranean horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus euryale) in four winter cave roosts in southern Slovakia and northern Hungary and investigated the relationship between food and ambient temperature. The bats were active during the whole winter period and they produced excrement throughout the entire hibernation period, even when outside temperatures dropped below zero. The guano was in two forms, containing (1) prey items and (2) non-prey items. The identifiable items belonged to lepidopteran species, but only one was identified, on the basis of the genital fragments, the moth Colotois pennaria, which was the main prey species in autumn and early winter. Our results shed light on the extraordinarily high level of activity in this bat species during winter hibernation, which in temperate regions is a strategy that enables bats to survive when prey is reduced or absent. In R. euryale, the torpor in the course of hibernation is not continuous and our results help to explain how energy losses caused by bat movements are covered.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winter diet analysis in Rhinolophus euryale (Chiroptera)

et al. 2013

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“…Considering that part of the encountered pollen represents the forest-steppe landscape of the Slovak Karst rich in ecotones, our results fits relatively well with the scenario suggested by Dubourg-Savage and Nemoz (2008), and Goiti et al (2008) that the most important foraging grounds of the bat Rhinolophus euryale are ecotones and interface habitats between woodland and open areas. Nevertheless, most of the arboreal pollen and the bats' diet composition corresponds better with the claims of Russo et al (2002Russo et al ( , 2005 and Aihartza et al (2003) that broad-leaved woodlands are the most important and preferred foraging habitat for this bat species.…”

Section: Recent Habitat Preferences Of Rhinolophus Euryale On Its Norsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Some authors suppose that the species mainly forages in various types of deciduous forests (Russo et al 2002(Russo et al , 2005Aihartza et al 2003). Other bat researchers found R. euryale hunting in interface habitats between woodland and open areas such as meadows, pastures and dry grasslands (Dubourg-Savage and Nemoz 2008; Goiti et al 2008). The species avoids coniferous forests and open areas (Russo et al 2002;Aihartza et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The thousand-year history of the Slovak Karst inferred from pollen in bat guano inside the Domica Cave (Slovakia)

et al. 2015

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A thousand years old 105 cm deep deposit of bat guano in the Domica Cave (southern Slovakia, Slovak Karst National Park) has been discovered for science, and three samples were analysed for pollen to identify the bats' preferred foraging habitats and for insect remains to identify their diet. The bat species concerned, Rhinolophus euryale, is rare in the area, which lies at the northern margin of its distribution. The pollen record captured alder forests between 897-1024 AD, temperate light broad-leaved oak-hornbeam forests with Quercus cerris, Fraxinus ornus, Cornus mas and Corylus avellana between 1522-1800 AD, and almost recently willow shrubs. This pattern may, however, reflect local changes in the surrounding landscape where the bats hunted. Pollen of anemophilous taxa was underrepresented (e.g. Fagus), while entomophilous taxa were overrepresented (e.g. Fraxinus ornus, Loranthus europaeus, Acer, Agrostemma githago). The phenology of the encountered pollen taxa indicates that the bats used the Domica Cave mainly as spring and summer roosts. The pollen record further indicates that the bats prefer to forage in a forest-steppe landscape with open Pannonian broadleaved forests and humid temperate riparian environments. Today, this kind of landscape does not occur further north, which may explain the northern limit of this bat species at the study site.

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“…hipposideros and R . euryale —which have wings reaching farther towards the head—forage regularly in dense vegetation [30,33–35,73,74]. The foraging behaviour of R .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bat Species Comparisons Based on External Morphology: A Test of Traditional versus Geometric Morphometric Approaches

et al. 2015

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External morphology is commonly used to identify bats as well as to investigate flight and foraging behavior, typically relying on simple length and area measures or ratios. However, geometric morphometrics is increasingly used in the biological sciences to analyse variation in shape and discriminate among species and populations. Here we compare the ability of traditional versus geometric morphometric methods in discriminating between closely related bat species – in this case European horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae, Chiroptera) – based on morphology of the wing, body and tail. In addition to comparing morphometric methods, we used geometric morphometrics to detect interspecies differences as shape changes. Geometric morphometrics yielded improved species discrimination relative to traditional methods. The predicted shape for the variation along the between group principal components revealed that the largest differences between species lay in the extent to which the wing reaches in the direction of the head. This strong trend in interspecific shape variation is associated with size, which we interpret as an evolutionary allometry pattern.

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Foraging by Mediterranean Horseshoe Bats (Rhinolophus euryale) in Relation to Prey Distribution and Edge Habitat

Cited by 44 publications

References 43 publications

Winter diet analysis in Rhinolophus euryale (Chiroptera)

Winter diet analysis in Rhinolophus euryale (Chiroptera)

The thousand-year history of the Slovak Karst inferred from pollen in bat guano inside the Domica Cave (Slovakia)

Bat Species Comparisons Based on External Morphology: A Test of Traditional versus Geometric Morphometric Approaches

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