Folivory in the giant fruit-eating bat Artibeus amplus (Phyllostomidae): a non-seasonal phenomeno

Folivory has been reported in only five species of microbats, and described as a seasonal phenomenon. Bats feed on leaves by chewing a portion of leaf, extracting the liquid, and discarding the fibrous material. In the course of a study on the reproductive pattern of Artibeus amplus in the Venezuelan Andes, leaves were frequently observed in a cave used by this species as a roost. We took this opportunity to (1) identify the leaves consumed by this poorly known Neotropical bat species, and (2) test whether folivory is a temporal phenomenon, such as in other leaf-eating bat species. Artibeus amplus consumes the leaves of seven species of plants, and four of these were found in every month of the year during the study. We report for the first time: (1) folivory in A. amplus, (2) five plant species never reported before in the diet of a bat, and (3) folivory as a non-seasonal phenomenon.

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