干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The diet and reproductive condition of the bat Rhogeessa minutilla was evaluated throughout a year in a thorn shrub of the xerophitic pocket of Lagunillas in the Venezuelan Andes. The analysis of fecal samples showed that this vespertilionid bat eats small insects (3-12 mm) which are represented in 10 orders and 29 families. Of the global diet, 84.9% belongs to four orders: Diptera (42.5), Hymenoptera(18.2),Lepidoptera(13.3) and Coleoptera(10.9). The wide range of diet and seasonal replacement of the prey taxa, seem to point out that R. minutilla is an opportunistic species in terms of the kind of prey, but selective in its size and hardness. The reproductive data reveals a single peak of pregnancies in the March-May period, and presence of juveniles in June-July. This seems to indicate a seasonal monoestrous reproductive pattern probably as a response to the major insect availability in the rainy season.