Consistency in fruit preferences across the geographical range of the frugivorous bats Artibeus , Carollia and Sturnira (Chiroptera)

Abstract

The frugivorous phyllostomid bat genera Artibeus , Carollia and Sturnira are important seed dispersers in the Neotropics, and exhibit supposed preferences for fruits of the genus Ficus , Piper and Solanum , respectively. We performed a quantified literature review to test the hypothesis that interactions with plants are consistent throughout the bats´ geographic ranges. Through an extensive literature review we obtained a total of 4,448 records of fruit consumption from 180 publications. To test which fruits were most frequently consumed across the Neotropical region and in each of its component countries these data were organized by bat species and country. In general, considering the 176 botanical genera eaten by these bats, the results showed a high consumption frequency of Ficus (24.0%) by Artibeus , Piper (38.7%) by Carollia and Solanum (31.0%) by Sturnira . Additionally, our findings support the hypothesis of diet consistency throughout the geographic range of these genera. We suggest that this consistency is related to the wide distribution of the study groups (both bats and plants), the phenology of the zoochoric species consumed, the spatial fidelity of bats and the foraging patterns of the different bat species.

A new polytypic species of yellow-shouldered bats, genus Sturnira (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), from the Andean and coastal mountain systems of Venezuela and Colombia

“…Our samples from cloud forests of the Cordillera de Mérida indicate that, as in other Sturnira, including S. oporaphilum (Sánchez et al 2012;Parolin et al 2016), fruits of the genera Solanum and Piper make the bulk of the diet of S. a. adrianae. Species of Sturnira, including S. adrianae, lack the striking pelage markings (pale facial and dorsal stripes) of most frugivorous phyllostomids.…”

“…Members of Sturnira, known as yellow-shouldered bats, are primarily frugivorous (Parolin et al 2016), and are found in forests from Sonora and Tamaulipas (Mexico) and the Lesser Antilles in the north, to northern Argentina and Uruguay in the south (Simmons 2005). The application of a molecular perspective to Sturnira, pioneered by Iudica (2000), and more recently elaborated by Velazco & Patterson (2013), has greatly enhanced our understanding of the pattern of diversification, biogeography, and taxonomy of the genus: Sturnira is hypothesized to have diverged as a separate genus between 12.6 and 15.9 Ma, in the central and northern Andes (Velazco & Patterson 2013); a robust phylogenetic tree for Sturnira allocates 18 of 21 species to two clades, Clade A including 11 morphologically heterogeneous and predominantly montane species from South and Central America, and Mexico, and Clade B including seven morphologically homogeneous and predominantly lowland species from the full geographic range of the genus (Velazco & Patterson 2013, 2014.…”

Diversity of fruits inArtibeus lituratusdiet in urban and natural habitats in Brazil: a review

“…Artibeus lituratus (Phyllostomidae) is a large frugivorous bat, often abundant in continuous preserved areas, forest patches (Muylaert et al 2017) and cities in the Neotropics (Ballesteros & Racero-Casarrubia 2012, Jara-Servín et al 2017, Nunes et al 2017), where it is one of the main seed-dispersing bats (Nunes et al 2017). Despite a preference for Cecropia and Ficus fruits, A. lituratus is known to include in its diet more than 260 fruit species across its range (Parolin et al 2016). This capacity to exploit a broad variety of fruits is one of the characteristics that may favour its tolerance to deep habitat modification such as urbanization (Oprea et al 2009, Nunes et al 2017.…”

Bat assemblage at a high diversity locality in the Atlantic Forest

“…Members of the genus Artibeus show a preference for Ficus, while Carollia consume mostly Piper fruits. These botanical genus are abundant throughout the Neotropical Region, providing a homogeneous and available food source (Parolin et al 2016). In addition, the environmental disturbance at EBSL (Mendes and Padovan 2000) could have caused a reduction of ecological niches, especially most specialized ones, such as gleaning animalivores (e.g., Lophostoma, Lonchorhina, Chrotopterus), frugivorous (Chiroderma) and specialized nectarivorous (Lionycteris), that are known to occur in this region (Woodman and Timm 2006;Scabello et al 2009;Mendes et al 2014).…”