Relative abundance, diet and roost selection of the tube-nosed insect bat, Murina florium, on the Atherton Tablelands, Australia

Abstract

The relative abundance, diet and roost selection of the tube-nosed insect bat, Murina florium (Vespertilionidae), was investigated at Mt Baldy and Ravenshoe State Forests in north-eastern Queensland. In all, 34 M. florium were captured in 263 trap-nights; this was in the middle range of microchiropteran bat species captured. Faecal analysis indicated that the major prey items of M. floriumwere Coleoptera and Araneida. The presence of the latter prey item in faecal pellets suggests that the species is a partial gleaner. Low levels of predominantly myrtaceous pollen collected from head and throat fur indicated only incidental exposure. M. florium used a variety of external roosts in rainforest, with the only communal roost being located in a fallen Archontophoenix leaf suspended from a liana. Other roosts occupied by single M. florium were nests (n = 7) of yellow-throated scrubwrens, Sericornis citreogularis, and fernwrens, Oreoscopus gutturalis, and vertically suspended dead leaf clusters (n = 3). All roosts were located in the rainforest understorey at a mean height of 4.2 m, positioned from close to watercourses up to ridgelines. Bird nests utilised had been modified; the possibility of tent-making behaviour in this species is discussed.

Roosting ecology of endangered plant‐roosting bats on Okinawa Island: Implications for bat‐friendly forestry practices

“…Though its diet is unknown, the low wing aspect ratio and faint frequency‐modulated echolocation of M . ryukyuana (Funakoshi et al., 2019 ; Norber & Rayner, 1987 ; Schnitzler et al., 2003 ), as well as the diet of congenerics (Ma et al., 2008 ; Schulz & Hannah, 1998 ), suggest that this species likely forages in clutter. Therefore, understory removal probably temporarily destroys both roosting and foraging habitats.…”

“…The genus Myotis is the most represented in tree‐roosting bat studies thanks to extensive research on the relatively small proportion of Myotis species native to Western countries (Nad'o & Kaňuch, 2015 ), but the majority of Myotis in other regions are poorly studied (Moratelli & Burgin, 2019 ). Similarly, few Murina species have been the subject of roosting studies (e.g., Fukui et al., 2012 ; Schulz & Hannah, 1998 ), and the proportion grows increasingly small when considering the remarkable rate of recent species discoveries in this genus (Yu et al., 2020 ). In Japan, ecological research concerning endemic plant‐roosting bats has been limited despite most being threatened (Preble et al., 2021 ).…”

Roosts used by the golden‐tipped bat Kerivoula papuensis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)

“…Although at Mt Baldy, a second species with similar wing morphology and echolocation call characteristics, Murina¯orium, was also recorded using suspended bird nests. In 10 roosts of this species, 60% occurred in S. citreogularis nests (Schulz & Hannah, 1998).…”