THE DIETS OF 2 HIGH-FLYING BATS FROM AFRICA

The diets of two fast-flying, aerial-hawking bats from north-east Afri ca (Ethiopia) were investigated by means of faecal analysis. Otomops m artiensseni (Molossidae; c. 35 g body mass), which is remarkably speci alized morphologically with very long, narrow wings and large ears, an d which uses low frequency echolocation (10 kHz), feeds almost exclusi vely (97% by volume) on moths, mostly of large species. The smaller (2 0 g) Taphozous perforatus (Emballonuridae) also has long, narrow wings but short ears and is less morphologically extreme than Otomops. It f eeds on moths (56%), but also on many other insect groups such as Isop tera (14%), Coleoptera (10%), Orthoptera (8%), as well as Hemiptera, N europtera, Hymenoptera and Diptera. Otomops martiensseni, in particula r, appears to be a highly specialized moth predator.