Folivory in the Big Fruit-eating Bat, Artibeus lituratus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in eastern Brazil

Abstract

Information about the consumption of leaves by Neotropical bats is scarce and incomplete. Greenhall (1957) mentions leaves of Ficus religiosa in the diet of Artibeuis lituri-atuis, Tuttle (1968) found remains of chewed leaves under the roosting places of Artibeusjamaicensis, and Wilson (1971) found leaves under night feeding roosts of Allicronycteris hirsuta, which he believed had been chewed and swallowed accidentally while the bats fed on insects. Marshall (1985) reviews the occurrence of folivory amongst Old World phytophagous bats (Megachiroptera). In this note, we present the results of a study of folivory in Artibeus lituratus, a common Neotropical bat, whose frugivorous diet also includes insects, pollen and leaves (Gardner 1977). The study was carried out from August 1988 to August 1989 in the park of the Museu de Biologia Mello Leitao in Santa Teresa, Espirito Santo, eastern Brazil (19?50'S, 40?22'W). Following the Holdridge Life Zone System (Holdridge 1967), the region is dominated by Subtropical Lower Montane Moist Forest; the mean annual precipitation is about 1500 mm, with a wet season between October and March, and a mean monthly precipitation below 100 mm from April to September (Jackson 1978). The study area has mainly secondary arboreal vegetation mixed with shrubs and many introduced plants. We mapped all the night resting and feeding roosts of A. lituiratuis in an area of 4 ha. Every 15 days, feeding remains, composed of dry oral pellets, seeds, faeces and partially eaten foods, were collected in nylon nets which were stretched on the grounid under the roosts in the evening and retrieved the following morning. Pellets of leaves and fruit were dried in an oven at 80?C for 24 h, and weighed separately. The night roosts were inspected frequently and only A. lituratus was observed. Voucher specimens of A. litiuratuis were deposited in the Museu de Biologia Mello Leitao (mammal collection, MBML 1686). Throughout the observation period A. lititratuts fed on leaves of at least six