Abstract booklet - gtö – Society for Tropical Ecology

116 PARALLEL SESSION HALL H IV | TROPICAL VERTEBRATESPARALLEL SESSION HALL H IV | TROPICAL VERTEBRATES117Session: Tropical vertebratesWednesday, 23 February, 15:30, Hall H IVSession: Tropical vertebratesWednesday, 23 February, 15:45, Hall H IVCONVERGENT EVOLUTION IN NECTAR-FEEDING PHYLLOSTOMIDBATS: NECTAR LAPPING VS. NECTAR PUMPINGMarco Tschapka 1 , Tania P. Gonzalez-Terrazas 11University of Ulm, Ulm, DE, marco.tschapka@uni-ulm.deECHOLOCATION STRATEGIES FOR OBJECT RECOGNITION INDENSE RAINFOREST FOR TWO GLEANING BATS, MICRONYCTERISMICROTIS AND THYROPTERA TRICOLORInga Geipel 1 , Elisabeth K. V. Kalko 1WEDNESDAY 15:30 Hall H IVCharacteristic for all species of neotropical nectar-feeding bats (Phyllostomidae:Glossophaginae) is a long, protrusible tongue that is used for drinking nectarfrom flowers. However, within the nectar-feeding Glossophaginae there aredistinct morphological differences between the currently recognized tribesGlossophagini and Lonchophyllini. Tongues of Glossophagini (e.g. the generaGlossophaga, Leptonycteris, Hylonycteris) show filiform papillae near the tipof the tongue, while Lonchophyllini (e.g. Lonchophylla, Lionycteris, Platalina)tongues largely lack these hairs and show lateral grooves over the length ofthe tongue. We used highspeed video recordings to analyze tongue movementduring nectar extraction of Glossophaga soricina and Lonchophylla robustavisiting artificial nectar feeders. Glossophaga repeatedly inserted its tongueinto the nectar and retracted it again, while the tongue of Lonchophyllaremained during the entire visit in contact with the fluid and was retractedonly when the bat left the feeder. Large filiform papillae of Glossophaga wereactively erected near maximum extension of the tongue and nectar couldadhere between these hairs through capillary action. In contrast Lonchophyllaused peristaltic movements of the tongue to pump the nectar upwards withinthe lateral grooves. Nectar extraction efficiency (mg nectar / msec hoveringduration) varied little between the two species. The pronounced differencesin tongue morphology and drinking behaviour (lapping vs. pumping) suggestan independent evolution of these adaptations to nectarivory and supportalternative views of the current Glossophagine systematics.1University of Ulm, Ulm, DE, inga.geipel@uni-ulm.deBats that fly and forage in the dense understory of tropical rainforests facevarious sensorial tasks as they have to orient in space and detect, classify andlocalize targets (food, roost sites) within strong background clutter (vegetation).We studied two species of gleaning bats that employ echolocation as themain sensorial input for object recognition in dense vegetation. Micronycterismicrotis (Phyllostomidae) feeds on large, motionless insects from leaves whereasThyroptera tricolor (Thyropteridae) uses unfurled Heliconia leaves as roosts. Weexposed M. microtis to stationary, silent prey and presented unfurled leaves toT. tricolour to assess their echolocation strategies for finding specific objects inclutter. Both bats hovered briefly in front of the target (food, roost) and scannedit by continuously emitting short and steep frequency-modulated echolocationcalls. Overall, calls of T. tricolor were much higher in frequency and broader inbandwidth than those of M. microtis. Furthermore, M. microtis generally emittedgroups of 2-3 calls whereas T. tricolour produced long pulse trains at highrepetition rates. Interestingly, both bat species performed extensive scanningand steered their sound beam along the edges of the respective object beforeclosing in on it. We conclude that the bats sonar system provides detailed 3-Dacoustic information about shape, size and texture of the targets.WEDNESDAY 1545: Hall H IVgtöSociety for Tropical Ecology | Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie e.V. Status and future of tropical biodiversity | Frankfurt, 21 - 24 February 2011gtö