Dataset Information

High duty cycle to low duty cycle: echolocation behaviour of the hipposiderid bat Coelops frithii.

ABSTRACT: Laryngeally echolocating bats avoid self-deafening (forward masking) by separating pulse and echo either in time using low duty cycle (LDC) echolocation, or in frequency using high duty cycle (HDC) echolocation. HDC echolocators are specialized to detect fluttering targets in cluttered environments. HDC echolocation is found only in the families Rhinolophidae and Hipposideridae in the Old World and in the New World mormoopid, Pteronotus parnellii. Here we report that the hipposiderid Coelops frithii, ostensibly an HDC bat, consistently uses an LDC echolocation strategy whether roosting, flying, or approaching a fluttering target rotating at 50 to 80 Hz. We recorded the echolocation calls of free-flying C. frithii in the field in various situations, including presenting bats with a mechanical fluttering target. The echolocation calls of C. frithii consisted of an initial narrowband component (0.5±0.3 ms, 90.6±2.0 kHz) followed immediately by a frequency modulated (FM) sweep (194 to 113 kHz). This species emitted echolocation calls at duty cycles averaging 7.7±2.8% (n?=?87 sequences). Coelops frithii approached fluttering targets more frequently than did LDC bats (C.frithii, approach frequency ?=?40.4%, n?=?80; Myotis spp., approach frequency ?=?0%, n?=?13), and at the same frequency as sympatrically feeding HDC species (Hipposideros armiger, approach rate ?=?53.3%, n?=?15; Rhinolophus monoceros, approach rate ?=?56.7%, n?=?97). We propose that the LDC echolocation strategy used by C. frithii is derived from HDC ancestors, that this species adjusts the harmonic contents of its echolocation calls, and that it may use both the narrowband component and the FM sweep of echolocations calls to detect fluttering targets.

SUBMITTER: Ho YY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3663840 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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High duty cycle to low duty cycle: echolocation behaviour of the hipposiderid bat Coelops frithii.

Ho Ying-Yi YY Fang Yin-Ping YP Chou Cheng-Han CH Cheng Hsi-Chi HC Chang Hsueh-Wen HW

PloS one 20130524 5

Laryngeally echolocating bats avoid self-deafening (forward masking) by separating pulse and echo either in time using low duty cycle (LDC) echolocation, or in frequency using high duty cycle (HDC) echolocation. HDC echolocators are specialized to detect fluttering targets in cluttered environments. HDC echolocation is found only in the families Rhinolophidae and Hipposideridae in the Old World and in the New World mormoopid, Pteronotus parnellii. Here we report that the hipposiderid Coelops fri ...[more]

PMID: 23717396

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Project description:BackgroundMolecular techniques are increasingly employed to recognize the presence of cryptic species, even among commonly observed taxa. Previous studies have demonstrated that bats using high-duty cycle echolocation may be more likely to speciate quickly. Pteronotus parnellii is a widespread Neotropical bat and the only New World species to use high-duty cycle echolocation, a trait otherwise restricted to Old World taxa. Here we analyze morphological and acoustic variation and genetic divergence at the mitochondrial COI gene, the 7th intron region of the y-linked Dby gene and the nuclear recombination-activating gene 2, and provide extensive evidence that P. parnellii is actually a cryptic species complex.ResultsCentral American populations form a single species while three additional species exist in northern South America: one in Venezuela, Trinidad and western Guyana and two occupying sympatric ranges in Guyana and Suriname. Reproductive isolation appears nearly complete (only one potential hybrid individual found). The complex likely arose within the last ~6 million years with all taxa diverging quickly within the last ~1-2 million years, following a pattern consistent with the geological history of Central and northern South America. Significant variation in cranial measures and forearm length exists between three of the four groups, although no individual morphological character can discriminate these in the field. Acoustic analysis reveals small differences (5-10 kHz) in echolocation calls between allopatric cryptic taxa that are unlikely to provide access to different prey resources but are consistent with divergence by drift in allopatric species or through selection for social recognition.ConclusionsThis unique approach, considering morphological, acoustic and multi-locus genetic information inherited maternally, paternally and bi-parentally, provides strong support to conclusions about the cessation of gene flow and degree of reproductive isolation of these cryptic species.

Dataset Information

High duty cycle to low duty cycle: echolocation behaviour of the hipposiderid bat Coelops frithii.

Publications

High duty cycle to low duty cycle: echolocation behaviour of the hipposiderid bat Coelops frithii.

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