Wing morphology, echolocation calls, diet and emergence time of black-bearded tomb bats (Taphozous melanopogon, Emballonuridae) from southwest China

Author： Wei Li Han Naijian Zhang Libiao Helgen Kristofer M. Parsons Stuart Zhou Shanyi Zhang Shuyi

Publisher： Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences

ISSN： 1508-1109

Source： Acta Chiropterologica, Vol.10, Iss.1, 2008-06, pp. : 51-59

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Abstract

We studied the wing morphology, echolocation calls, diet and emergence time of the black-bearded tomb bat (Taphozous melanopogon) from May to October 2006 in Guangxi Province, southwest China. Taphozous melanopogon has wings with high aspect ratio, high loading and pointed wing-tip shape-characteristics associated with fast flight in open space. This species usually produces low-intensity, low frequency, and frequency-modulated (FM) calls usually containing up to four harmonics, with most energy in the second (or sometimes third) harmonic. The diet of this species consists mostly of Lepidoptera and Hemiptera. Timing of evening emergence is correlated with the time of sunset. This is the first study to describe the flight and echolocation behavior of this species in China, and opens the way for future studies of its biology.