Fish and amphibians as bat predators

Abstract

Although bats (Chiroptera) belong to the most diverse mammalian orders, study of diversity of their natural predators has been seriously neglected for a long time. While some recent reviews contain comprehensive overviews of our recent knowledge on these phenomena for some animal groups, such work is still lacking for anamniotes - fishes and amphibians. Here, I am summarising bat predation incidences by anamniotes that were published in scientific journals and public web domains. I found out that at least 14 species of fishes and 14 species of frogs were observed as feeding on bats. Moreover, 7 and 16 species of bats were recorded as victims of hunting activity of fishes and frogs, respectively. Majority of localised incidences came from the New World; frog (between latitude 49°N to 28°S) attacks were distributed mainly in tropical or subtropical areas < 30° from equator (70% of all records), fish (44°N to 20°S) incidences reach same proportion in colder areas (> 30° from equator) and warmer areas. In some cases, these predators can regularly feed on bats, especially when hunting near roosting places of bats; however, with respect to number of recorded cases (21 for fishes and 37 for amphibians), bat predation by anamniotes seems to be very rare and opportunistic with only very limited influence on bat populations or their behaviour.

Bat predation by a Cuban Treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis, Hylidae) and a summary of bat predation by West Indian amphibians and reptiles

“…Compared to non-volant mammals of similar size, bats face few predators (Altringham 1996;Lima and O'Keefe 2013). Furthermore, predation on bats by amphibians is rare and infrequently documented in the literature (Mikula 2015). Herein, we report an event of bat predation by a Cuban Treefrog.…”

“…In a recent review paper, Mikula (2015) compiled 37 cases of bat predation by amphibians, listing 14 frog species preying on bats and 16 bat species as prey. Mikula (2015) did not include any frogs in the genus Osteopilus, although Silva (1979) identified a Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus, Vespertilionidae) taken from the stomach of an O. septentrionalis found in a toilet at a tourist village in central Cuba. Also in Cuba, Vogel (1965) recorded the presence of bones of an unidentified bat in the stomach of an invasive American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus, Ranidae).…”

Predation of Desmodus rotundus Geoffroy, 1810 (Phyllostomidae, Chiroptera) by Epicrates cenchria (Linnaeus, 1758) (Boidae, Reptilia) in an Ecuadorian Cave

“…There is a list of enemies mentioned in the literature: monkeys, loris, mustelids (weasels), minks (Goodpaster and Hoffmeister 1950), raccoons, opossums, cats and even bats themselves. Mikula (2015) recently published a literature review of different fishes (such as salmons, catfishes and sharks) that prey on bats; and amphibians such as Bufonidae, Hylidae and Leptodactylidae, prey on bats too. Giant centipedes were also observed killing bats in a cave in Venezuela (Molinari et al 2005).…”

Editorial: Citizen Science for Future Generations

“…Since the introduction of modern Citizen Science techniques, there are several descriptions which show how it has also diversified almost instantaneously ranging from "science that serves the citizens" (Irwin, 1995) to "science performed by the citizens", i.e., science performed for the people, by the people (Strasser et al, 2019). However, today it is mainly conceptualized as allowing citizens to contribute to ongoing scientific research, whether with (eBird, 2002) or without their knowledge by taking advantage of a range of public-media platforms (Mikula, 2015;Dylewski et al, 2017). Bonney et al (2016) presented a typology of how Citizen Science projects could be characterized: (1) contributory projects wherein scientists design the experiment and citizens contribute data (e.g., North America Christmas Bird Count);(2) collaborative projects wherein the public can also voice opinions and contribute to project design, help analyze the data, and even disseminate the findings; or (3) co-created projects wherein public participants are involved in the whole process of developing and implementing the scientific process.A wide range of projects have developed over time wherein innovative scientists have successfully incorporated citizens into their data-collection process.…”