Geoffroy's bat,<i>Myotis emarginatus</i>, preys preferentially on spiders in multistratified dense habitats: a study of foraging bats in the Mediterranean

Goiti, Urtzi; Aihartza, Joxerra; Guiu, Maider; Salsamendi, Egoitz; Almenar, David; Fraile, María Napal; Garin, Iñazio

doi:10.25225/fozo.v60.i1.a3.2011

Cited by 24 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Finally, the lowest dietary richness was found for Myotis emarginatus , with sequences of Arenae detected in 100% of faecal samples, what was previously described in Goiti et al. ().…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

“…The diet of Barabastella barbastellus was dominated by Lepidoptera with 100% positive samples, as previously described in Andreas, Reiter, and Benda (2012). Finally, the lowest dietary richness was found for Myotis emarginatus, with sequences of Arenae detected in 100% of faecal samples, what was previously described in Goiti et al (2011).…”

Section: Western Francesupporting

confidence: 77%

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Metabarcoding for the parallel identification of several hundred predators and their prey: Application to bat species diet analysis

Galan

Pons

Tournayre

et al. 2018

Molecular Ecology Resources

161

157

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Assessing diet variability is of main importance to better understand the biology of bats and design conservation strategies. Although the advent of metabarcoding has facilitated such analyses, this approach does not come without challenges. Biases may occur throughout the whole experiment, from fieldwork to biostatistics, resulting in the detection of false negatives, false positives or low taxonomic resolution. We detail a rigorous metabarcoding approach based on a short COI minibarcode and two-step PCR protocol enabling the "all at once" taxonomic identification of bats and their arthropod prey for several hundreds of samples. Our study includes faecal pellets collected in France from 357 bats representing 16 species, as well as insect mock communities that mimic bat meals of known composition, negative and positive controls. All samples were analysed using three replicates. We compare the efficiency of DNA extraction methods, and we evaluate the effectiveness of our protocol using identification success, taxonomic resolution, sensitivity and amplification biases. Our parallel identification strategy of predators and prey reduces the risk of mis-assigning prey to wrong predators and decreases the number of molecular steps. Controls and replicates enable to filter the data and limit the risk of false positives, hence guaranteeing high confidence results for both prey occurrence and bat species identification. We validate 551 COI variants from arthropod including 18 orders, 117 family, 282 genus and 290 species. Our method therefore provides a rapid, resolutive and cost-effective screening tool for addressing evolutionary ecological issues or developing "chirosurveillance" and conservation strategies.

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“…Finally, the lowest dietary richness was found for Myotis emarginatus , with sequences of Arenae detected in 100% of faecal samples, what was previously described in Goiti et al. ().…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Western Francesupporting

confidence: 77%

Metabarcoding for the parallel identification of several hundred predators and their prey: Application to bat species diet analysis

Galan

Pons

Tournayre

et al. 2018

Molecular Ecology Resources

161

157

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…and Myotis nigricans ) feed aerially on flying insects; non-volant prey such as spiders is almost entirely missing in their diets [75]–[77]. In contrast, there are some bats that feed heavily on web-building spiders (e.g., Phoniscus papuensis , Myotis emarginatus , Myotis nattereri , Myotis bechsteinii , Myotis keenii , Myotis lucifugus , Myotis aurascens ; see [78]–[85]). These are all bats with an average adult weight of 5–10 g and a wingspan of 21–27 cm [81], [86].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These are all bats with an average adult weight of 5–10 g and a wingspan of 21–27 cm [81], [86]. In particular, the Golden-tipped Bat ( Phoniscus papuensis [formerly termed Kerivoula papuensis ]) and Geoffroy’s Myotis ( Myotis emarginatus ) are considered to be true spider specialists with spiders making up>75% of their total prey [81], [85], [87]. These bats, which glean spiders from webs are characterized by high flight agility and manoeuvrability at low speed, using high frequency echolocation calls (>100 kHz start frequency) to detect spider prey and to avoid accidential crashes ([81]; [88]; G. Jones, pers.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analyses of faecal pellets likewise confirm that these bats prey on orb-weavers of rather small size (∼2–10 mm in length; [80], [91]), suggesting that they select smaller-sized webs for their gleaning attempts. Quite a number of studies on spider-eating Myotis bats were conducted in geographic areas such as Europe and northern parts of North America [78]–[79], [82]–[83], [85], [89], [91]–[94] where huge araneid and nephilid spiders do not occur (compare [33]), implying that in these areas gleaning bats presumably face little danger of being caught and killed by web-building spiders. But in some tropical areas of Australia, where Phoniscus papuensis does occur sympatrically with huge nephilid spiders, incidences of Phoniscus papuensis being accidentally ensnared and killed in Nephila webs would be imaginable, though nothing has been reported about this so far.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bat Predation by Spiders

Nyffeler

Knörnschild

2013

PLoS ONE

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In this paper more than 50 incidences of bats being captured by spiders are reviewed. Bat-catching spiders have been reported from virtually every continent with the exception of Antarctica (∼90% of the incidences occurring in the warmer areas of the globe between latitude 30° N and 30° S). Most reports refer to the Neotropics (42% of observed incidences), Asia (28.8%), and Australia-Papua New Guinea (13.5%). Bat-catching spiders belong to the mygalomorph family Theraphosidae and the araneomorph families Nephilidae, Araneidae, and Sparassidae. In addition to this, an attack attempt by a large araneomorph hunting spider of the family Pisauridae on an immature bat was witnessed. Eighty-eight percent of the reported incidences of bat catches were attributable to web-building spiders and 12% to hunting spiders. Large tropical orb-weavers of the genera Nephila and Eriophora in particular have been observed catching bats in their huge, strong orb-webs (of up to 1.5 m diameter). The majority of identifiable captured bats were small aerial insectivorous bats, belonging to the families Vespertilionidae (64%) and Emballonuridae (22%) and usually being among the most common bat species in their respective geographic area. While in some instances bats entangled in spider webs may have died of exhaustion, starvation, dehydration, and/or hyperthermia (i.e., non-predation death), there were numerous other instances where spiders were seen actively attacking, killing, and eating the captured bats (i.e., predation). This evidence suggests that spider predation on flying vertebrates is more widespread than previously assumed.

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Caught in the web: Exploring spider predation on bats in Europe

Ruiz‐Villar,

Montauban,

Pino‐Blanco

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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The intricate interplay between predators and prey has long fascinated ecologists, with bats and their diverse prey offering insight into co‐evolutionary dynamics. While bats have evolved sophisticated strategies for prey capture, they also face predation pressure. Among their predators, spiders stand out for their diversity of predatory tactics, ranging from hunting assaults and web ensnarement to the deployment of venom. Yet, bat predation records by spiders are mostly from tropical regions, and cases remain notably scarce in temperate regions. Here, we report four new incidences of bat predation and mortality by spiders and their webs in Europe. Our observations include detailed photograph and video documentation of the first record of a spider capturing and consuming a bat pup in Spain, as well as accounts of bats entangled in spider webs on a building and inside bat boxes in the United Kingdom. These findings shed light on understudied predator–prey dynamics, offering valuable insights into spider predation on bats in European ecosystems. Our study emphasises the importance of continued research to improve our understanding of ecological interactions between these elusive and primarily nocturnal taxa.

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Geoffroy's bat,Myotis emarginatus, preys preferentially on spiders in multistratified dense habitats: a study of foraging bats in the Mediterranean

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 24 publications

References 16 publications

Metabarcoding for the parallel identification of several hundred predators and their prey: Application to bat species diet analysis

Metabarcoding for the parallel identification of several hundred predators and their prey: Application to bat species diet analysis

Bat Predation by Spiders

Caught in the web: Exploring spider predation on bats in Europe

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