Data from: 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 they also engage in searching. Risk may be lower for females
in the breeding season since they do not call, and the risk of movement
for mate-finding may not be higher than for males. Predation risk
associated with signaling and searching were compared between the sexes
using enclosure experiments, and prevalence of their risky behaviors
examined using field observations. The results show that males perform
high-risk behaviors, such as calling and flight, with a high prevalence.
Although flight is equally risky for both sexes, females rarely fly. Males
thus use a high-risk call-and-fly mate-finding strategy, placing them at
higher risk of predation relative to females in the breeding season.