Initially, the Rhinolophus hipposideros group was defined by two morphological traits, the structure of the nose-leaf and the shape of basioccipital bone of the skull. Originally, it consisted of two species, R. hipposideros and R. midas, whereas currently it is considered to contain a single species, R. hipposideros, under whose rank both original species have been joined. The interpretation of geographic variability within the group has traditionally been based on variation in body and skull size, nose-leaf shape, and several selected skull and tooth characters. This approach resulted in delimitations of up to seven subspecies, mostly in the Mediterranean area, a conception introduced more than a hundred years ago and accepted by many authors till today. We investigated the phylogenetic relationships among populations of R. hipposideros with the help of molecular genetic, morphological, and acoustic examinations. Our analysis uncovered the existence of an unexpected diversity within the R. hipposideros group, challenging its current phylogenetic and taxonomic arrangements. The molecular genetic analysis of almost 100 samples and morphological examinations of about 300 specimens showed two main, geographically exclusive, phylogenetic lineages within the group, well delimited by molecular characteristics and possessing two distinct morphotypes and two distinct echotypes. These two lineages are isolated deep enough to be considered separate species. One of them, R. hipposideros s.str., is widespread over the south-western Eurasia and north-western and north-eastern Africa, and the other, R. midas, is distributed in a small range around the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman. The extensive range of R. hipposideros s.str. is inhabited at least by two subspecies, separated mainly by the genetic characters, whereas the morphological and echolocation traits do not distinguish the populations sufficiently. The western R. h. hipposideros occurs in the Maghreb and Europe west of the Dnieper River, Bosporus, and the Strait of Karpathos, and the eastern R. h. minimus lives east of this boundary, including the populations of Crimea, Caucasus, the Middle East, and north-eastern Africa (Sudan to Djibouti). The two subspecies also differ in karyotype, with 2n = 58 in R. h. minimus and 2n = 54–56 in R. h. hipposideros. The taxonomic position of the easternmost populations of R. hipposideros s.str. (West Turkestan, Afghanistan, Kashmir) remains unresolved and has to be investigated more elaborately and using a more extensive sample set.

The tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) has experienced extensive declines in regional abundance — near 30% as of 2013 — due to disease, habitat loss, and anthropogenic conflict. There is urgency to determine whether the species should be protected in the United States; however, critical species-specific information required to make this decision is lacking. Here, we address those critical knowledge gaps by (i) estimating genetic diversity, and (ii) assessing population structure. We utilized sequence data from a 562 base pair region of the mitochondrial genome and eight autosomal microsatellite loci from 14 sampling locations across the core of P. subflavus' range and found substantial diversity in both data types. Further, we found contrasting patterns of population structure between the data types. Weak evidence for population structure was detected using the mitochondrial data, with the most probable population break dividing eastern and western sampling sites, and evidence for isolation-by-distance across the sampled region. Conversely, we detected no evidence for structure or isolation-by-distance using microsatellite data, revealing a panmictic population. The findings reported here represent a baseline understanding of genetic diversity and structure for P. subflavus; additional analyses using samples collected post white-nose syndrome emergence are required to understand losses in genetic diversity due to recent population declines.

We addressed the question of why juvenile R. ferrumequinum that are born early (May to early June) in the nursery roost at Stackpole, West Wales, tend to have a higher forearm growth rate than individuals born later (late June to July). An appropriate nonlinear growth equation (either logistic, Gompertz, von-Bertalanffy, or asymptotic regression) was identified to fit the measurements of the forearms of juvenile R. ferrumequinum collected from marked individuals at the roost between 1994 and 2013. The logistic growth model provided the best line of fit to the changes in the forearm lengths, indicated by the lowest standard error. Over the 20-year study period, the mean values of the logistic growth parameters were asymptotic length (L∞) = 55.10 mm and growth constant (K) = 0.11 day^-1. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the most significant predictors of the variance in L∞ and K (R² = 58.7% and 54.3%, respectively) were the nursery roost temperatures at midnight, and the total foraging times of the adult bats during the night. If the juveniles were born early, when the roost temperature was colder, and the foraging times of the adults were shorter, then a lower value of K produced forearms that grew toward a longer L∞. If the juveniles were born late, when the roost temperature was warmer, and the foraging times of the adults were longer, then a higher value of K produced forearms that grew toward a shorter L∞. Reasons are proposed to explain the differences between the growth of early and late born individuals, including the effect of increased body mass associated with warmer roost temperatures and possible causes of longer foraging times.

The breeding biology of bats is in part regulated by environmental parameters, which in certain cases result in considerable intraspecific variation in reproduction periods. Few details are available on the reproductive behavior of Malagasy bats and this study focuses on parameters related to the mating and parturition periods in the endemic frugivorous and cave-roosting Rousettus madagascariensis (Pteropodidae). The birth period was estimated based on observations of mating behavior and presence of neonates in video recordings made at Ankarana (northern Madagascar) during different seasonal periods in 2017 and 2018. Based on animals captured in the same cave between 2014 and 2022, we also estimated the age of neonates in order to evaluate annual variation in parturition periodicity. Based on video recordings, mating was mainly observed (ordered based on highest frequency) in September, July, and January. This behavior, which generally took place during the dry season, was negatively correlated with temperature and rainfall, and had a low positive correlation with cave relative humidity. With most mating taking place between July and September, one parturition period occurs just before or during the wet season (between December and February), the period of highest fruit abundance in Ankarana. For cases of mating in January, excluding the possibility of sperm storage or delayed implantation, another parturition would occur in mid-April, a time of low fruit availability; however, no neonate was filmed or trapped in April and video recording data indicated that neonates were present between July and September, suggesting a parturition taking place from July to September. Parturition periods show some annual variation and appear to be mainly regulated by climatic aspects including rainfall and principally temperature; however, this variation was less pronounced as compared to other non-Malagasy pteropodid species. Further research on Malagasy fruit bats should focus on possible sperm storage or delayed embryonic development and, if found, associated correlations with environmental parameters.

Knowledge and understanding of bat activity and habitat associations are important for effective conservation and management, especially in landscapes undergoing land use changes. Dasypterus intermedius (northern yellow bat), a broadly distributed species in the Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States, is a species of conservation concern due to habitat loss. We examined the influence of landscape factors on D. intermedius activity on Little Saint Simons Island (LSSI), Georgia, USA, an Atlantic barrier island characterized by a limited human disturbance history. From April to October 2013, we recorded a total of 6,921 D. intermedius passes and 138 feeding buzzes among six land cover types across three biologically relevant seasons. We used GLMMs to model total and foraging activity using landscape variables and season as covariates. We found no significant differences in total activity among cover types, but observed a clear pattern of greater activity in cover types with low vegetation clutter. We observed significantly greater total activity later in the year after juveniles became volant and were able to forage on their own. Based on feeding buzzes, our results demonstrated greater foraging activity in maritime grasslands than in the oak and pine cover types. Distance to water, edge, and roosting habitat had little influence on total or foraging activity. Our results provide baseline information regarding D. intermedius habitat use from a relatively undisturbed coastal environment that can aid management decisions when considering bats in landscapes experiencing changes from development.

Many individuals of the nectar-feeding phyllostomid bat, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae, visit hummingbird feeders in southern Arizona for nearly three months each year prior to migrating back to Mexico. We monitored bat activity at four feeders with trail cameras or security cameras all night for 19–57 nights during the 2021 ‘nectar bat season’. As in previous years, peak visits occurred in mid-September. Detailed analysis of data from one feeder on 22 nights indicated that non-adults (juveniles and yearlings) were visiting it and that visitation patterns were highly variable from night to night. Statistical analysis of these patterns revealed that clusters of bats were visiting this feeder more often than expected by chance, suggesting that bats are foraging in groups. Surprisingly, bats did not leave feeders once they were drained but continued to visit them for up to five hours each night. Energetic calculations suggest that some bats are potentially expending half of their foraging energy visiting empty feeders. Studies of individually tagged bats are needed to begin to understand this behavior.

Due to global agricultural expansion and intensification, many animal species must now survive within a landscape dominated by agroecosystems. For bats, agroecosystems can provide a valuable foraging-habitat, and many species of bats thrive within such habitats whilst also providing a range of ecosystem services for farmers. Despite this, bat usage of many agroecosystem types remains unstudied. Here, we investigated the diversity of insectivorous bats in the vanilla agroecosystems of northeastern Madagascar, the world's principal vanilla-growing region. To assess bat diversity, we used a passive acoustic survey technique, and we identified and classified bat species diversity using PCA and DFA analysis of echolocation call acoustic parameters. In total, we were able to detect the presence of at least 13 different bat species within Madagascar's vanilla agroecosystems, seven of which we were able to confidently identify to species level. However, due to our conservative classification approach, the true diversity of bats in vanilla agroecosystems is likely to be higher. The results of this study indicate that Madagascar's vanilla agroecosystems represent suitable foraging habitat for numerous bat species, particularly forest-specialists, which is a highly encouraging finding for the conservation of Madagascar's bats. Expansion of vanilla agroecosystems is therefore likely to provide valuable habitat extensions for Madagascar's forest bats in the future, provided this expansion does not come at the expense of existing largely-undisturbed natural habitats.

The study of host-parasite interactions is key to understanding ecological interactions since parasites play a crucial role in the regulation of populations of host species. The families Nycteribiidae and Streblidae (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea) are ectoparasitic flies specific to bats, which have evolved adaptations to their host. The host-parasite interactions are formed by coevolutionary processes and illustrate the current and historical associations between the species involved. For this reason, the use of ecological networks in parasite-host interactions allows us to elucidate how the structure of their interactions respond to biotic and abiotic factors. In the present study, we evaluated changes in the fly-bat interaction networks in two contrasting landscapes in the Department of Arauca of the Colombian Orinoquia Region. The first landscape is composed of savannas and alluvial forests and the second with anthropogenic disturbances composed of cocoa crops, livestock areas and human settlements. We used mist nets to capture bats and collect their respective parasitic flies. Using this data, we built a bipartite interaction network for each landscape, and we calculated the main metrics of each network. 19.8% of the 524 bats captured presented ectoparasitic flies, with a total of 326 flies belonging to nine genera of Streblidae and one genus of Nycteribiidae. The diversity and prevalence of ectoparasitic flies of bats was higher for the disturbed landscape in contrast to savannas and forests. The networks of both landscapes were characterized by being highly specialized and modular. Nonetheless, the network obtained in the savannas and alluvial forests showed greater specialization, and the landscape with anthropogenic impact presented greater modularity. Our results confirm the high specialization and modularity that characterizes the ectoparasitic bat-fly antagonistic network. Also, we provided new observations suggesting that a degraded landscape may affect the bat hosts and favors overcrowding and, consequently, the exchange of ectoparasites between bat species, reducing the level of specialization and promoting the increased prevalence of bat ectoparasitic flies.

Many bat populations have plummeted in North America since the introduction of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in 2006, presenting challenges in researching population health and habitat use of affected species. Traditional survey techniques such as mist-netting and radio-telemetry have become increasingly time-consuming post-WNS due to the rarity of WNS-susceptible species in affected areas. To address the difficulty of studying imperiled bat species, we explored the use of an acoustic lure alongside mist-netting and acoustic monitoring to potentially enhance species detection in southeastern Missouri, United States. Acoustic lures elicit varying intra- and interspecific behavioral responses; thus, we explored the effects on multiple bat species' encounter rates while using tricolored bat Perimyotis subflavus distress vocalizations. The acoustic lure increased the number of acoustic detections for the federally endangered Indiana bat Myotis sodalis and non-imperiled big brown bat Eptesicus fuscus, and increased captures of the silver-haired bat Lasionycteris noctivagans, a species of conservation concern in Missouri. Additionally, only two individuals of P. subflavus were captured in mist-nets, and both were captured with the acoustic lure. These results suggested that acoustic lures are a valuable tool for identifying the presence of imperiled species when used in combination with mist-netting and acoustic detectors. Researchers studying bat communities that have experienced significant population declines because of WNS or other factors should incorporate multiple survey techniques, including acoustic lures, to increase capture rates and better document species distributions. Doing so should provide more accurate information on the distribution of imperiled bat species, which is relevant to conservation and management.

The longevity of bats is longer than expected based on their small body sizes and high metabolic rate. However, signs of senescence have been poorly studied for free-living bats, especially for Neotropical species, because elderly individuals are challenging to find in the wild, and long-term mark-recapture studies are lacking. Here, we present the first record of a free-living Neotropical frugivorous bat, a female Artibeus lituratus (family Phyllostomidae), with impressive signs of senescence. We compare the elderly bat with conspecific juveniles and non-elderly adults morphologically, anatomically, and physiologically. The most noticeable signs of senescence were a significant loss of fur, dark spots on the skin, excessive dental wear, and reduced ability to assimilate sugar. These traits indicate that bats' challenges as they get old can be associated with reduced thermal insulation, ability to chew, and nutrient assimilation. However, by reducing extrinsic causes of mortality, flying capability in old bats with clear signs of senescence may represent a vital survival trait associated with the long lifespan of these animals.

Molossus fluminensis is a species of the wide diversified family Molossidae. Representants of this family have evolved under pressures associated to two different behaviors — a high speed and efficient flight and a good quadrupedal ability. The aim of this study is to describe in detail the morphological characters of M. fluminensis, focusing on its skeletal features, and to point out the main characters that could represent functional responses to the evolution of the quadrupedal ability and habitat use in the group. Furthermore, we aim to contribute to the knowledge of a recently revalidated and cryptic species of Molossus, giving a morphometric characterization for the species and notes on sexual dimorphism. Four adult specimens of M. fluminensis, one male and three females, were prepared as skin and skeleton, and five external and 146 linear measurements of the skeleton were taken. The anatomical characters were described following current literature and included the axial and appendicular skeleton. We found that the male presented greater measurements than females in most linear characters, and had a more developed sagittal and lambdoid crests, while the ischiatic arcade was more caudally projected in females. A narrow rib cage, a long, thin sternum, and a cranially oriented ventral process of manubrium make the M. fluminensis body more compact dorsoventrally without compromising the area of insertion of the flight musculature. These appear to be adaptations for roosting in narrow crevices. The expanded sacral vertebrae, the deep gluteal fossa of the ilium, and the presence of well-developed processes on the first caudal vertebra, point to a greater area for muscle origin in this region, while the well-developed trochanters and ridges of the femur and tibia provide surfaces for muscle attachment. Together, these characteristics point to a great range of movement of the limbs and the tail, important factors during quadrupedal locomotion. The results obtained here may shed light on the evolution of quadrupedalism in molossids and other quadrupedal bats.

Recent molecular and morphometric studies have found that what was originally described as a single species, Glossophaga soricina (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), is indeed a cryptic species complex formed from at least four different lineages with non-overlapping geographic distributions and molecular differentiation. Morphological differences have been reported between continental species G. mutica and G. soricina, while insular G. mutica and G. antillarum and the continental species G. valens present identical shape and size. In the present study, we conducted ecological niche model analyses to characterize the abiotic requirements of these recently recognized species, and to assess whether their niches could be a factor behind their morphological divergence patterns. Mainland species presented the highest niche overlap values regardless of their morphological differentiation, while the insular groups proved to be ecologically distinct. Therefore, the variation in the shape of these groups must be driven by factors not considered in this study which are most likely related to their Eltonian rather than Grinnellian ecological niches. The non-suitability regions that separate the distributions of the continental species explain the barrier to the genetic flux that could be behind their divergence and add evidence of them being separately evolving lineages.

Acoustic bat lures are devices capable of playing high frequency sound. These stem from research showing the behavioural responses of bats to acoustic stimuli, and are used as bat-attractants, usually in an effort to catch bats. Through an online survey, we aimed to inform best practice by accumulating user experiences. We received 55 responses to the survey from 21 countries. Lures have been used across 34 countries, but predominantly in the United Kingdom, across the European Union, and throughout the USA during bat community-focused surveys. With growing research that lures may attract some species whilst deterring others, lures may be more appropriately used for species-specific focused projects, rather than broader, bat community-focused projects. Over half of survey respondents expressed ethical concerns surrounding the use of bat lures, stating that their use should be limited due to a lack of understanding of their effects, and that they may alter the behaviour of bats due to stress. We encourage practitioners to use lures with some caution, and test their utility so that over time we understand these potential concerns with more certainty. To this end, we also recommend guidelines be published for general ethical use, alongside standardised methods to deepen our future understanding of these devices and their effect on bat species globally.

Los reclamos acústicos para murciélagos son dispositivos capaces de reproducir ultrasonidos, y que se utilizan en investigación científica debido a la respuesta comportamental de los murciélagos frente a estímulos acústicos. Los reclamos se utilizan como atrayentes de murciélagos, generalmente durante los muestreos en campo mediante capturas. Este trabajo resume las directrices y protocolos utilizados hasta la fecha con reclamos acústicos, obtenidos a través de un formulario online distribuido ampliamente en sectores científicos y de conservación de quirópteros, mediante el que recopilamos información sobre las experiencias de sus usuarios. Recibimos 55 respuestas correspondientes a investigadores de 21 países, quienes utilizaron los reclamos en un total de 34 países, aunque predominantemente en el Reino Unido, la Unión Europea y los Estados Unidos de América. Investigaciones recientes indican que los reclamos pueden atraer a algunas especies a la vez que disuadir a otras, por lo que, principalmente, deberían usarse para proyectos centrados en especies concretas en lugar de proyectos más amplios centrados en la composición de los ensamblajes. Más de la mitad de los participantes expresaron preocupaciones éticas, afirmando que el uso de reclamos debería limitarse debido a la falta de comprensión de sus efectos secundarios sobre los murciélagos y la alteración de su comportamiento. Alentamos a los usuarios a usar los reclamos con precaución y comprobar su eficacia para que, con el tiempo, entendamos mejor sus ventajas y limitaciones. Con este fin, también recomendamos que, junto con los resultados de los estudios, se publiquen las pautas y protocolos utilizados para mejorar la comprensión sobre el funcionamiento de los reclamos, y su efecto en las especies de murciélagos a nivel global.

Measurement of faecal hormonal metabolites has become a widespread method in field endocrinology due to its non-invasiveness and ability to assess long-term stress; however, this approach has some limitations. We tested the potential of this assay for the Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii), a small vespertilionid species (body mass 6–10 g), and we explored the relationship between cortisol and testosterone levels and dawn swarming, a signalling behaviour that occurs during roost-switching. Swarming was recorded using automated PIT-tag readers on the tree roosts of a maternity colony. In spite of absence of biological validation, our preliminary results demonstrate that field conditions of sample storage and small faeces weight do not interfere with hormonal measurement. We also found a positive correlation between individual levels of stress hormone (cortisol faecal metabolites) and swarming behaviour, but this should be interpreted with caution due to methodological shortcomings that need to be improved in future studies.