Ecological and behavioral determinants of sex-biased predation of katydid prey by a bat predator

Studying the factors leading to sex-biased predation is crucial to better understand natural selection, sexual selection, and evolution of mate-finding. A comprehensive understanding of these factors requires building a mechanistic link between the processes and the patterns. Using a case-study of sex-biased predation by a bat, Megaderma spasma, on a katydid, Mecopoda, we investigated ecological and behavioral factors driving male-biased predation in the breeding season, and female-biased predation in the non-breeding season. First, we compared the prey sex ratio with the predation pattern in the wild. The relative availability of the sexes does not explain male-biased predation on Mecopoda in the breeding season; whereas in the non-breeding season, very few males are available, potentially leading to female-biased predation. Next, we predicted that signaling, being a male-specific behavior, increases their predation risk in the breeding season, potentially exacerbated by movement, if t..., , # Data from: Ecological and behavioral determinants of sex-biased predation of katydid prey by a bat predator

*Saha, K., & Balakrishnan, R. (in press). Ecological and behavioural determinants of sex-biased predation of katydid prey by a bat predator, Behavioral Ecology.*

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.866t1g24s](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.866t1g24s)

## Authors

Kasturi Saha^1*^, Rohini Balakrishnan^1^

*^1.^* *Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India 560012*

\* *Corresponding author*

Kasturi Saha: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]), [http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7149-9035](http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7149-9035)

Rohini Balakrishnan: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]), [http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0935-3884](http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0935-3884)

## Date and Location where the data was collected

December 2018 – March 2020; Mala village, Udupi district, Karnataka, India (13°13’31’’, 75°05’25”)

## Descri...,