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NEW EVIDENCE OF BAT PREDATION BY THE WOOLLY FALSE VAMPIRE BAT CHROTOPTERUS

AURITUS

Marcelo Rodrigues Nogueira1, Leandro Rabello Monteiro1 & Adriano Lúcio Peracchi2

1 - Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais - CBB, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, 28013-600,Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brasil. nogueiramr@gmail.com; lrmont@uenf.br

2 - Laboratório de Mastozoologia - IB, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, 23890-000,Seropédica, RJ, Brasil. aperacchi@webdigital.com.br

Abstract: We report on an additional evidence of bat predation by Chrotopterus auritus. Our record was obtainedduring a single net session, when a female C. auritus was captured with a partially eaten Carollia perspicillata.Preliminary data suggest that this latter species is very abundant in the region (a lowland Atlantic Forest area innorthern Rio de Janeiro state), corroborating the view of C. auritus as an opportunistic feeder.

Keywords: Atlantic forest, carnivory, Carollia perspicillata, Phyllostominae, southeastern Brazil

In the Neotropical region, bats with carnivorous feedinghabits (excluding fish-eaters) appear to have evolvedonly in the speciose family Phyllostomidae, and, withinthis, only among phyllostomines (sensu Wetterer et al.2000). In this latter group, the incidence of carnivoryhas been shown to be strongly related with bat’s bodysize, with the larger species relying predominantly(Chrotopterus auritus) or almost integrally (Vampyrum

spectrum) on vertebrate prey (Giannini & Kalko 2005).These large bats are easily kept in captivity, where theypromptly accept, and efficiently manage, other bats asprey (Greenhall 1968, Peracchi & Albuquerque 1976,McCarthy 1987, Medellín 1988). In the wild, however,available evidence suggests that C. auritus prey mainlyon rodents and V. spectrum on birds (Bonato et al.2004), with only a few records reporting batconsumption (e.g., Acosta Y Lara 1951, Arita & Vargas1995, Bonato et al. 2004, Bordignon 2005). While thismay reflect an actual minor (if so) participation of batsin their diet (e.g., Medellín 1988, Vehrencamp et al.1977), it must be considered that our knowledge onthe feeding habits of these species is far fromsatisfactory, which can be attributed, at least in part, tothe rareness in which both species occur in localassemblages (e.g., Kalko et al. 1996).

On the night of 21 July 2006, we were collecting batsfor educational purposes at the Reserva BiológicaUnião, municipality of Rio das Ostras, state of Rio deJaneiro, southeastern Brazil, when we find a female C.

auritus entangled in one of our nets and at her side apartially eaten female Carollia perspicillata (head,chest and most part of the wings were missing; Fig. 1).Although we did not directly observe the bat hitting

the net with its prey, we are not considering thepossibility of predation on the net, as recently attributedto the omnivorous bat Phyllostomus hastatus (Opreaet al., 2006). Not only was the time available forpredation insufficient (we were almost constantlyinspecting the nets and quickly noticed when the C.

auritus was captured), but the bat was too entangled(and exhibiting little mobility on its arms) to be able toproduce the extensive damage we saw in the predatedbat. Additionally, non eatable bat parts, such as theforearms (lacking in the predated Carollia), were notfound under the net. Our evidence, therefore, pointstoward a natural predation event, not related to ourprocedures in the area.

Our net session at Rebio União involved an effort of90 net-meters-hours (three 6m nets exposed for fivehours) and was performed in a dirty road (“trilha daJaqueira”, 22º26’10"S, 42º03’01"W) surrounded bymature secondary lowland Atlantic Forest (seeRodrigues (2004) for a description of the diversifiedmosaic of natural habitats found at Rebio União). Thefemale was considered adult based on phalangealepiphyses ossification, but showed no sign ofreproductive activity. It was captured at 20:30 PM andits forearm measured 88.8 mm. This specimenrepresented only 2% of our whole sample (N=44),which also included the following taxa: C. perspicillata

(N=32), Sturnira lilium (N=5), Platyrrhinus lineatus

(N=3), Desmodus rotundus (N=1), Phyllostomus

hastatus (N=1), and Pygoderma bilabiatum (N=1). Allspecimens were released after examination, since ourlicense did not include permission to collect vouchers.

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Some authors have referred to C. auritus as anopportunistic feeder (e.g., Sazima 1978, Bonato et al.2004), which may also be the case at the Rebio União,where C. perspicillata seems to be, by far, the mostabundant bat. Mello & Schittini (2005) also sampledbats at this locality and found a similar strongdominance of C. perspicillata (84% of the 206individuals they captured). According to Fleming(1988), predation may play a significant role in thepopulation dynamics of C. perspicillata, and may beevocated to explain why this bat seems to be lunarphobic (Mello, 2006). Our record, however, wasobtained during the darker phase of the moon, showingthat even under more favorable conditions the risk ofpredation may be present. The only previous recordsof bat predation on Carollia in the wild (and undernatural conditions) seems to be those from Fischer et

al. (1997) and Bordignon (2005), both inside roosts,where most evidence of bat predation by bats seems tocome from (e.g., Acosta & Lara 1951, Arita & Vargas1995, Arias et al. 1999, Bonato & Facure 2000). In theinstance reported here, however, cohabitation wasprobably not the case, since our observations suggestthat C. auritus was transporting its prey while flying, asituation that is typical of bats returning to their roost.Predation on the wing, either around prey’s roost orforaging/commuting areas (Fleming 1988), is a possiblebut hard to observe alternative (Tuttle & Stevenson1982). Complementary research planned to be carried

out at Rebio União may help to clarify if wedocumented a rare event, or if bats (in this case, thesuperabundant C. perspicillata) are a more regular preyof C. auritus in this region.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are thankful to Marcelo T. Nascimento for theinvitation to participate in the field course of thePrograma de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e RecursosNaturais (Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais -Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense), toWhitson J. C. Junior for granting permission to ouractivities at Rebio União, and to Marco A. R. Mellofor comments on an early draft of the manuscript. Allauthors receive financial support form FAPERJ. LRMand ALP are also supported by CNPq.

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