Gessinger Gloria, Gonzalez-Terrazas Tania P, Page Rachel A, Jung Kirsten, Tschapka Marco
Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancón, Panama City, Republic of Panama.
R Soc Open Sci. 2019 Jul 31;6(7):182165. doi: 10.1098/rsos.182165. eCollection 2019 Jul.
Most insectivorous bat species in the Neotropical family Phyllostomidae glean insects from ground, water or vegetation surfaces. They use similar and stereotypical echolocation calls that are generally very short (less than 1-3 ms), multi-harmonic and frequency-modulated (FM). By contrast, the common sword-nosed bat, , which has the longest noseleaf in the entire phyllostomid family, produces distinctly different echolocation calls. They are composed of a constant frequency (CF) component with a peak frequency of 45 kHz, followed by a short FM down-sweep at the end. With a mean call duration of 6.6 ms (max. 8.7 ms) when flying in the open they have the longest echolocation calls reported from phyllostomid bats. In cluttered environments, the CF-component is very short. In open habitats, however, can emit pure CF-calls without the terminal FM-component. We also recorded in the field a distinct terminal group that closely resembles the feeding buzzes of aerial hawking bat species from other bat families. This is the first time the echolocation call design of is presented. In addition, we contrast the echolocation behaviour of individuals flying in open and confined situations. Our results suggest that the unique echolocation system of represents an adaptation to aerial hawking, a very unusual hunting mode within the phyllostomid family.
新热带区叶口蝠科的大多数食虫蝙蝠物种会从地面、水面或植被表面采集昆虫。它们使用相似且刻板的回声定位叫声，这些叫声通常非常短（不到1 - 3毫秒），具有多谐波且是调频的（FM）。相比之下，普通剑鼻蝠，在整个叶口蝠科中拥有最长的鼻叶，其发出的回声定位叫声明显不同。它们由一个峰值频率为45千赫的恒频（CF）成分组成，末尾接着一个短的调频下扫。在开阔环境中飞行时，其平均叫声持续时间为6.6毫秒（最长8.7毫秒），是叶口蝠科蝙蝠中报道的最长回声定位叫声。在杂乱环境中，CF成分非常短。然而，在开阔栖息地，普通剑鼻蝠可以发出没有末尾调频成分的纯CF叫声。我们还在野外记录到一个独特的结尾组，它与其他蝙蝠科的空中捕食蝙蝠物种的捕食嗡嗡声非常相似。这是首次展示普通剑鼻蝠的回声定位叫声设计。此外，我们对比了在开阔和受限情况下飞行的个体的回声定位行为。我们的结果表明，普通剑鼻蝠独特的回声定位系统代表了对空中捕食的一种适应，这在叶口蝠科中是一种非常不寻常的捕猎方式。
