Libiao Zhang

DIETARY SHIFTS IN RELATION TO FRUIT AVAILABILITY AMONG MASKED PALM CIVETS (PAGUMA LARVATA) IN CENTRAL CHINA

Abstract The spatial and temporal distribution of food resources can profoundly affect foraging decisions and prey selection, potentially resulting in shifts in diet in response to changes in resource availability. The masked palm civet (Paguma larvata) has long been regarded as a dietary generalist that feeds primarily on fruits and small mammals. Both types of food resources may vary spatially and temporally and the diet of P. larvata is expected to change in response to variation in the availability and distribution of these resources. To address the effects of such variation on foraging by masked palm civets, we studied a population of P. larvata inhabiting a highly heterogeneous habitat in central China consisting of primary forest, selectively logged forest, logged forest, broad-leaved and coniferous forest plantations, and cultivated farmland. Available food resources included wild fruits, cultivated fruits, leaves, plant cortexes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, small mammals, molluscs, and arthropods. The abundance of these food categories varied significantly among seasons and habitats and civets altered consumption of these categories according to their temporal and spatial availability. The diversity of items consumed also varied significantly among seasons and habitats. From June to October, wild fruits were the main food of civets in forest habitats, whereas cultivated fruits were the main food in farmland. In contrast, from November to May, civets in forested habitats consumed primarily rodents and birds. Concordant with these changes was a shift from foraging in primary forest (November–May) to foraging in logged forest and farmland (June–October) that appeared to be associated with the availability of fruits. These results demonstrate the ability of civets to change their diet, both spatially and temporally, in response to changing food resources. To better understand how foraging behavior of civets varies with resource availability, similar studies should be conducted in tropical environments characterized by year-round availability of fruit.

Dietary analysis confirms that Rickett's big-footed bat ( Myotis ricketti ) is a piscivore

The diet of Myotis ricketti wa se xamined by faecal analysis, and foraging behaviour was observed in the field. Scales from at least three species of small fish were found in the droppings, together with fragments of insects from six orders. This study demonstrates that M. ricketti is a fish-eating bat. As with other trawling bats in the genus Myotis, M. ricketti emits short, broadband echolocation sounds. The sounds recorded from bats released from the hand swept downward from c .7 0 to 28 kHz in 4m s, and contained most energy at 41 kHz.

DIET OF FLAT-HEADED BATS, TYLONYCTERIS PACHYPUS AND T. ROBUSTULA, IN GUANGXI, SOUTH CHINA

Abstract We examined food habits of Tylonycteris pachypus and T. robustula by fecal analysis in 2 counties of Guangxi, South China. The diet of T. robustula included 7 orders of insects: Hymenoptera (62.3% by volume), Diptera (29.6%), Coleoptera (6.0%), Hemiptera (1.5%), and traces of Orthoptera, Trichoptera, and Ephemeroptera. The diet of T. pachypus included all the main orders consumed by T. robustula (53.4%, 29.0%, 13.4%, 2.1%, respectively) and 3 other orders: Homoptera, Blattodea, and Embioptera. No differences were found in diets of males and females of either species. The diet of T. pachypus showed clear seasonal variation from spring to autumn and differences in diet between the different geographical areas studied. There were no differences in the 4 dominant insect orders consumed by both species in Longzhou County, but insects consumed by T. pachypus were characteristically smaller than those eaten by T. robustula, and food-niche breadth (based on prey size) also was smaller than that of T. robustula.

Development of vocalizations in the flat-headed bats, Tylonycteris pachypus and T. robustula (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)

ABSTRACT The development of vocalizations during postnatal growth in the flat-headed bats, Tylonycteris pachypus and T. robustula in South China is described. Females of both species gave birth to twins at the end of May, and the infants flew in the last ten days of June. Vocalizations served as precursors to echolocation calls and as isolation calls (i-calls) used to attract mothers. As the infants grew, the frequency of i-calls and precursor calls increased. The duration of i-calls increased little before 6-day old and then decreased. At the same time, the duration of echolocation precursor calls decreased. The directive calls that the mother or the infant emitted when searching for each other are also described. Female directive calls are lower in frequency and longer in duration than their echolocation calls, and the duration of infant directive calls is longer than those of the i-calls and precursor calls.

Fellatio by fruit bats prolongs copulation time.

Oral sex is widely used in human foreplay, but rarely documented in other animals. Fellatio has been recorded in bonobos Pan paniscus, but even then functions largely as play behaviour among juvenile males. The short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus sphinx exhibits resource defence polygyny and one sexually active male often roosts with groups of females in tents made from leaves. Female bats often lick their mates penis during dorsoventral copulation. The female lowers her head to lick the shaft or the base of the males penis but does not lick the glans penis which has already penetrated the vagina. Males never withdrew their penis when it was licked by the mating partner. A positive relationship exists between the length of time that the female licked the males penis during copulation and the duration of copulation. Furthermore, mating pairs spent significantly more time in copulation if the female licked her mates penis than if fellatio was absent. Males also show postcopulatory genital grooming after intromission. At present, we do not know why genital licking occurs, and we present four non-mutually exclusive hypotheses that may explain the function of fellatio in C. sphinx.

Variation in the abundance of ectoparasitic mites of flat-headed bats

We investigated the ectoparasitic mite loads (Macronyssus: Macronyssidae: Acarina) on 2 species of flat-headed bats, Tylonycteris pachypus and T. robustula (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in 2 counties of Guangxi Province, southern China, from 2002 to 2005. In Longzhou County both species of bat occur sympatrically, but only T. pachypus occurs in Ningming County. Individuals of the smaller species (T. pachypus) harbored significantly more mites than did those of T. robustula. In both species males harbored more mites than nonreproductive females, pregnant females had more mites than lactating and nonreproductive females, and juveniles harbored more mites than adults. Mite load on both species of bats showed significant seasonal variation, declining from spring to winter. No correlation was found between mite load and size of the host colony. We discuss our findings in relation to the ecology and biology of both hosts and parasites.

DIETARY CHARACTERISTICS OF MYOTIS RICKETTI IN BEIJING, NORTH CHINA

Abstract We evaluated composition and seasonal variation in the diet of Ricketts big-footed myotis (Myotis ricketti) by examining 342 fecal samples collected every 2 weeks when the bats were active in Fangshan District of Beijing, North China, from 2002 to 2003. The diet consisted of 3 kinds of fish (Zacco platypus, Carassius auratus, and Phoxinus lagowskii) and at least 7 orders of insects (Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Homoptera, Ephemeroptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera). Fragments of fish accounted for 67.1% and fragments of insects for 28% (by volume) of the diet; Z. platypus was the dominant food (60.1%), followed by Coleoptera (13.1%). Significant differences existed between the proportion of fish and insects in the diet; however, no seasonal variation in the diet was found over the course of the investigation. This suggests that at this study site in Beijing, M. ricketti was highly specialized in foraging on only 1 species of fish and relied less on insects as alternative food sources, despite their seasonally high abundance.

Conservation of bats in China: problems and recommendations

Bat populations in China appear to have decreased considerably in the last 30 years. Four reasons may have been responsible: (1) Cave exploitation for tourism has changed the atmosphere and temperature in caves, disturbing bats directly. (2) Extensive pesticide use has resulted in bioaccumulation in bats, reducing their survival. (3) Many old buildings were demolished during urbanization, reducing the availability of suitable roost sites. (4) People often include bats in their diet, and bats are served in restaurants. We make recommendations for improving bat conservation in China. Education programmes about bat conservation should be provided for adults and schoolchildren, and laws for protecting bats need to be enacted and enforced. The roosting sites of bats should be protected comprehensively, and pesticide use should be regulated.

Fatal swine acute diarrhoea syndrome caused by an HKU2-related coronavirus of bat origin

Cross-species transmission of viruses from wildlife animal reservoirs poses a marked threat to human and animal health1. Bats have been recognized as one of the most important reservoirs for emerging viruses and the transmission of a coronavirus that originated in bats to humans via intermediate hosts was responsible for the high-impact emerging zoonosis, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)2–10. Here we provide virological, epidemiological, evolutionary and experimental evidence that a novel HKU2-related bat coronavirus, swine acute diarrhoea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV), is the aetiological agent that was responsible for a large-scale outbreak of fatal disease in pigs in China that has caused the death of 24,693 piglets across four farms. Notably, the outbreak began in Guangdong province in the vicinity of the origin of the SARS pandemic. Furthermore, we identified SADS-related CoVs with 96–98% sequence identity in 9.8% (58 out of 591) of anal swabs collected from bats in Guangdong province during 2013–2016, predominantly in horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus spp.) that are known reservoirs of SARS-related CoVs. We found that there were striking similarities between the SADS and SARS outbreaks in geographical, temporal, ecological and aetiological settings. This study highlights the importance of identifying coronavirus diversity and distribution in bats to mitigate future outbreaks that could threaten livestock, public health and economic growth.Analysis of viral samples from deceased piglets shows that a bat coronavirus was responsible for an outbreak of fatal disease in China and highlights the importance of the identification of coronavirus diversity and distribution in bats in order to mitigate future outbreaks of disease.

Hierarchical polygyny in multiparous lesser flat-headed bats.

How males gain access to mates and the potential for female choice will determine whether polygyny can operate at several levels, from within litters and groups to the wider population. Female lesser flat‐headed bats (Tylonycteris pachypus) form maternity groups in bamboo stems. Unusually for bats, they are multiparous, providing the opportunity to test whether multi‐level polygyny differs among males depending on whether they roost with females, with males or are solitary. We genotyped 662 individuals from 54 internodes and analysed parentage of 165 litters. Our results revealed 170 sets of paternal twins/triplets, of which 96 were full‐sibs and 74 were half‐sibs. We found that males captured roosting with females typically sired more offspring overall than did other males and also showed a greater tendency to monopolize paternity within both litters and roosting groups. In comparison, males that sired fewer full‐sibs were assigned more maternal half‐sibs. These latter individuals, which included solitary males and those from all‐male groups, might gain copulations either via roaming with furtive mating or during visits by females. Indeed, female lesser flat‐headed bats store sperm, so could benefit from multiple mating to reduce genetic incompatibilities. At the same time, however, we found no evidence of outbreeding. Finally, relatedness and mtDNA analyses revealed that polygyny also operated within matrilineal kin, suggesting a system that might promote social cohesiveness. Future studies of individual movements will help to determine the extent to which mixed paternities in litters, matrilines and groups are driven by male or female behaviour.