Comparative echolocation and foraging ecology of horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae) and Old World leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideridae)

Abstract

Horseshoe (Rhinolphidae) and Old World leaf-nosed (Hipposideridae) bats are high duty cycle (HDC) echolocators sharing a suite of adaptations including long duration signals relative to their signal periods, peak energy concentrated in a narrow spectral band dominated by a constant frequency (CF) component, 'auditory fovea' (overrepresentation and sharp tuning of neurons responsible for frequencies at or around the CF) and ability to compensate for Doppler shifts in echoes. HDC bats separate signals from returning echoes in the frequency domain. Rhinolophids are more specialised neurobiologically than hipposiderids, producing longer duration signals at higher duty cycles, and have narrowly tuned auditory fovea and almost full Doppler shift compensation. Here, I examine whether these differences have produced ecological divergence between the families by testing predictions of differences in prey perception, prey capture behaviour, foraging habitat and diet. I found no discernible differences in these variables between the two families. Rhinolophids and hipposiderids both forage close to vegetation, capture prey by aerial hawking and gleaning from surfaces, and consume mostly flying insects with spiders and terrestrial, flightless arthropods taken occasionally. The data presented here show that the two families are similar in foraging ecology despite differences in echolocation and audition.

Sonotype‐level responses of Afrotropical hipposiderid bats to local‐scale effects of rainforest structure

“…This is particularly true for bat species with similar morphology that tend to use similar echolocation call structures and similar flight patterns and can therefore be assigned to foraging guilds (Denzinger & Schnitzler, 2013; Ducci et al, 2015; Jones et al, 1993; Neuweiler, 1989). For example, medium‐ to large‐sized hipposiderid genera with longer pulse durations and moderate to high flight abilities, such as Doryrhina and Macronycteris , are less tolerant of cluttered space (Pavey, 2020; Pavey & Burwell, 2000). They are better adapted to fly in mid‐storey and canopy edge, as well as in open habitats above the forest canopy (Neuweiler, 1989).…”

Chiropterans are a hotspot for horizontal transfer of DNA transposons in Mammalia

“…And indeed, the clade of bats exhibiting the highest rate of putative HT in our study is the family Vespertilionidae, which is almost exclusively insectivorous (Nowak 1999; Fenton and Bogdanowicz 2002; Morales, et al 2019). C. thonglongyai , rhinolophids, and hipposiderids are also insectivorous (Arbour, et al 2019; Pavey 2021) and stand out as exceptional genomic habitats for HT of DNA transposons. Yet despite their openness to HT, only a handful of types have been successful and with the emphatic exception of Helitrons in vespertilionids, bats do not seem to have much more diversity in DNA transposons compared to other eutherians.…”

Diet composition, niche overlap and partitioning of five sympatric rhinolophid bats in Southwestern China during summer

“…In addition to body size and wing morphology, different echolocation calls and bite forces may also lead to divergence in trophic niches among bat species. Echolocation calls are critical to navigation and foraging, and they exhibit great variability as adaptations to different environments, such as foraging habitats of varying complexity, different foraging strategies, and diverse food types (Bogdanowicz et al, 1999;Schoeman and Jacobs, 2003;Razgour et al, 2011;Arrizabalaga-Escudero et al, 2018;Pavey, 2020). Bat species with different peak frequencies exhibit significant differences in activity areas and prey types, contributing to the full utilization of local food resources and promoting coexistence (Fullard et al, 1991;Pavey, 2020).…”

“…Echolocation calls are critical to navigation and foraging, and they exhibit great variability as adaptations to different environments, such as foraging habitats of varying complexity, different foraging strategies, and diverse food types (Bogdanowicz et al, 1999;Schoeman and Jacobs, 2003;Razgour et al, 2011;Arrizabalaga-Escudero et al, 2018;Pavey, 2020). Bat species with different peak frequencies exhibit significant differences in activity areas and prey types, contributing to the full utilization of local food resources and promoting coexistence (Fullard et al, 1991;Pavey, 2020). For example, six sympatric Jamaican bat species with different echolocation calls differed significantly in their foraging areas and diet composition, minimizing the degree of overlap in resource use between species (Emrich et al, 2014).…”