Diet of three mormoopid bats (<i>mormoops blainvillei</i>, <i>pteronotus quadridens</i>, and <i>pteronotus portoricensis</i> ) on Puerto Rico

<p>This study used visual analysis to determine the percent volume and percent frequency of orders of insects in the guano of the Antillean ghost-faced bat (<i>Mormoops blainvillei</i>), sooty mustached bat (<i>Pteronotus quadridens), and Puerto Rican mustached bat (<i>Pteronotus portoricensis</i>). The most common orders for all three species were Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera, although the relative proportions of these orders differed among species. Variation in diet was primarily due to species, but season, habitat, and sex also affected the composition of insects in the feces. In addition, species-level identification of prey was achieved through molecular techniques that examined mitochondrial DNA isolated from fragments of arthropods contained within the guano of <i>M. blainvillei</i> and <i>P. quadridens</i>. A total of 18 and 6 species of insect were identified to species for <i>M. blainvillei</i> and <i>P. quadridens</i>, respectively, and nine of these species were either pests of agricultural crops or vectors of human disease.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Year dc:date.available

2011

Author dc:creator

• Rolfe, Ashley K.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Allen Kurta, Ph.D. Chair
• Daniel Clemans, Ph.D.
• Jamin Eisenbach, P.h.D.

• bats
• diet
• mormoopidae
• pest species
• Puerto Rico
• polymerase chain reaction
• Biology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/349

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-1349