Who’s for dinner? Bird prey diversity and choice in the great evening bat, Ia io

The mysterious predator-prey interaction between bats and nocturnally migrating birds is a very rare and incredible process in natural ecosystems. So far only three avivorous bat species, including two noctule bats (Nyctalus lasiopterus and Nyctalus aviator) and the great evening bat (Ia io), are known to regularly prey on songbirds during nocturnal avian migration. The information related to the diversity and the characteristics of the birds as prey, as well as the hunting strategy in both species of noctule bats are already clear. However, the diversity of bird prey in the diet of I. io as confirmed by molecular identification remains unknown. Moreover, like hunting insects, it remains unclear if the avivorous bats opportunistically prey on birds. Here, we used DNA metabarcoding to investigate the bird prey composition, diversity, and choice in diets of I. io. We found I. io consumed 22 species of seven families from Passeriformes with a body mass of 6–19 g, and preferentially selecte...