Data from: Female dietary bias towards large migratory moths in the European free-tailed bat (Tadarida teniotis)

In bats, sexual segregation has been described in relation to differential use of roosting and foraging habitats. It is possible that variation may also exist between genders in the use of different prey types. However, until recently this idea was difficult to test due to poorly resolved taxonomy of dietary studies. Here we use high throughput sequencing to describe gender-related variation in diet composition of the European Free-tailed bat (Tadarida teniotis), while controlling for effects of age and season. We analysed guano pellets collected from 143 individuals mist-netted from April to October 2012 and 2013, in north-east Portugal. Moths (Lepidoptera; mainly Noctuidae and Geometridae) were by far the most frequently recorded prey, occurring in nearly all samples and accounting for 96 out of 115 prey taxa. There were significant dietary differences between males and females, irrespective of age and season. Compared to males, females tended to consume larger moths and more moths of migratory behaviour (e.g. Autographa gamma). Our study provides the first example of gender-related dietary variation in bats, illustrating the value of novel molecular tools for revealing intraspecific variation in food resource use in bats and other insectivores.

在蝙蝠类群中，已有研究报道存在与栖息、觅食生境差异化利用相关的性别分隔现象。有推测认为，蝙蝠雌雄个体在不同猎物类群的取食偏好上也可能存在差异。然而直至近期，由于食性研究中的分类学分辨率不足，该假说难以得到验证。本研究采用高通量测序（high throughput sequencing）技术，以欧洲犬吻蝠（Tadarida teniotis，英文名European Free-tailed bat）为研究对象，在控制年龄与季节对食性的影响的前提下，分析其食性组成的性别相关差异。我们采集了2012年4月至2013年10月间，在葡萄牙东北部通过雾网捕获的143只个体的蝙蝠粪便颗粒，并开展食性分析。结果显示，鳞翅目（Lepidoptera）蛾类是本次研究中最常被检测到的猎物类群，几乎在所有样本中均有检出，在115个猎物类群中占96个，其中主要为夜蛾科（Noctuidae）与尺蛾科（Geometridae）类群。无论年龄与季节如何，雌雄蝙蝠之间均存在显著的食性差异。与雄性个体相比，雌性个体更倾向于取食体型更大的蛾类，以及更多具有迁飞习性的蛾类（如银纹夜蛾Autographa gamma）。本研究首次在蝙蝠类群中证实了性别相关的食性差异，证明了新型分子技术在揭示蝙蝠及其他食虫动物食物资源利用的种内差异方面的重要价值。