Project description:The Indian false vampire (Megaderma lyra), known as the greater false vampire bat, the Indian false vampire bat, and the greater false-vampire, is typical echolocation mammals. It has been listed in the IUCN Red List of threatened species and included in the Red Book of Endangered Animals in China. Herein, we described 17,055 bp of M. lyra mtDNA that includes 13 protein-coding genes (PGCs), two rRNA genes (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and one control region (D-loop). The complete mitochondrial genome sequence will provide new molecular biology information to further understand the genetic diversity of the M. lyra and to protect this population.
Project description:IntroductionImmediate responses towards emotional utterances in humans are determined by the acoustic structure and perceived relevance, i.e. salience, of the stimuli, and are controlled via a central feedback taking into account acoustic pre-experience. The present study explores whether the evaluation of stimulus salience in the acoustic communication of emotions is specifically human or has precursors in mammals. We created different pre-experiences by habituating bats (Megaderma lyra) to stimuli based on aggression, and response, calls from high or low intensity level agonistic interactions, respectively. Then we presented a test stimulus of opposite affect intensity of the same call type. We compared the modulation of response behaviour by affect intensity between the reciprocal experiments.ResultsFor aggression call stimuli, the bats responded to the dishabituation stimuli independent of affect intensity, emphasising the attention-grabbing function of this call type. For response call stimuli, the bats responded to a high affect intensity test stimulus after experiencing stimuli of low affect intensity, but transferred habituation to a low affect intensity test stimulus after experiencing stimuli of high affect intensity. This transfer of habituation was not due to over-habituation as the bats responded to a frequency-shifted control stimulus. A direct comparison confirmed the asymmetric response behaviour in the reciprocal experiments.ConclusionsThus, the present study provides not only evidence for a discrimination of affect intensity, but also for an evaluation of stimulus salience, suggesting that basic assessment mechanisms involved in the perception of emotion are an ancestral trait in mammals.