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1 December 2010 Seasonal Change in the Diet Composition of the Asian Parti-Coloured Bat Vespertilio sinensis
Dai Fukui, Naoki Agetsuma
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Abstract

We determined the food habit of the Asian parti-coloured bat Vespertilio sinensis from May to August by analysing their faecal samples. Eight orders of insects were identified in the faeces. Lepidoptera, Diptera and Coleoptera had high frequencies of occurrence, but the proportion of each order varied with the sampling period. A comparison between diet composition and relative insect abundance showed that proportions of Coleoptera in the diet were larger than those in insect abundance. This pattern also was true for Lepidoptera in some sampling periods. In contrast, proportions of Diptera in the diet were lower than those in insect abundance, although Diptera was a major prey item. These results suggest that the diet composition of V. sinensis may be biased towards larger-sized taxa. Furthermore, the lack of any significant differences between diet composition and insect abundance for the other five orders suggested that the diet composition of V. sinensis is also influenced by the seasonal prevalence of each insect taxon.

© the Mammalogical Society of Japan
Dai Fukui and Naoki Agetsuma "Seasonal Change in the Diet Composition of the Asian Parti-Coloured Bat Vespertilio sinensis," Mammal Study 35(4), 227-233, (1 December 2010). https://doi.org/10.3106/041.035.0402
Received: 9 March 2010; Accepted: 1 July 2010; Published: 1 December 2010
KEYWORDS
diet
faecal analysis
insect abundance
Vespertilio sinensis
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