Eat what you can, when you can: relatively high arthropod consumption by frugivorous bats in Amazonian Peru.

Most ecological studies of chiropteran diets report that phyllostomid bats of the subfamilies Stenodermatinae, Carolliinae, and Rhinophyllinae feed principally on fruits. Nevertheless, under certain circumstances, some species can consume a considerable amount of other food resources (nectar/pollen, leaves, and arthropods) as dietary complements to meet their nutritional requirements. We found a relatively high consumption of arthropods by frugivorous phyllostomids as a result of an analysis of feces from a bat community in a lowland forest of northeastern Peru during the dry season. A total of 290 bats (30 species) were captured, from which 188 were frugivorous phyllostomids (13 species). Fecal samples with arthropod remnants were obtained from bats of the genera Artibeus, Carollia, Sturnira, and Rhinophylla, which corresponded to 45% of the samples obtained from the complete assemblage of frugivorous phyllostomids. For three Artibeus species (A. lituratus, A. obscurus, and A. planirostris), arthropods were found in half or more of their fecal samples. This relatively high consumption of arthropods did not significantly differ between male and female frugivorous bats. Findings could be related to a low availability of fruits and high availability of arthropods during the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]