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Molecular evidence of bird-eating behavior in Nyctalus aviator
- Insectivorous bats consume a large variety of food items. Previous observations of feathers found in feces led to the hypothesis that the birdlike noctule (Nyctalus aviator, Vespertilionidae) could prey on birds. To test the hypothesis, we analyzed fecal samples from six species (Barbastella pacifica, Murina hilgendorfi, Myotis frater, N. aviator, Plecotus sacrimontis, and Vespertilio sinensis) collected from central Hokkaido, Japan, via DNA barcoding. We identified the presence of the Middendorff’s grasshopper warbler (Locustella ochotensis) in the diet of a pregnant individual of N. aviator. All the other samples proved negative regarding bird prey DNA. This is the first time that the consumption of a bird by N. aviator is confirmed with molecular evidence. Our findings add invaluable insight into the diet of this bat and its potentially opportunistic foraging behavior.
| Author details: | Olga HeimORCiDGND, Anna I. E. PuistoORCiD, Dai FukuiORCiD, Eero J. VesterinenORCiD |
|---|---|
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-019-00319-5 |
| ISSN: | 0873-9749 |
| ISSN: | 1437-9546 |
| Title of parent work (English): | Acta ethologica |
| Publisher: | Springer |
| Place of publishing: | Heidelberg |
| Publication type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Date of first publication: | 2019/06/22 |
| Publication year: | 2019 |
| Release date: | 2020/11/02 |
| Tag: | Bird prey; DNA barcoding; Locustella ochotensis; Nyctalus aviator; Sanger sequencing |
| Volume: | 22 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Number of pages: | 4 |
| First page: | 223 |
| Last Page: | 226 |
| Funding institution: | University of Turku (UTU); JSPS KAKENHIMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT)Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceGrants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) [JP16H06542, JP16K21735, JP16K00568]; Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation; Emil Aaltonen Foundation; Finnish Functional Genomics Centre, University of Turku; Abo Akademi; Biocenter Finland; Turku University Central Hospital |
| Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Biochemie und Biologie |
| DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie |
| Peer review: | Referiert |
| Publishing method: | Open Access |
| Open Access / Hybrid Open-Access |
