The Morphological Characteristics and Dietary Specialization of Round-Leaf Bats (Genus: Hipposideros)

Noor Atieqah, Morshidi (2014) The Morphological Characteristics and Dietary Specialization of Round-Leaf Bats (Genus: Hipposideros). [Final Year Project Report] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

A total of 129 individuals from ten species of the genus Hipposideros were used in this study. Samples were either freshly collected from four selected area in Sarawak or obtained from voucher specimens deposited in Museum Zoological UNIMAS. The main objective of the study is to determine the correlation between the morphometric charactersof the Hipposideros species to their respective dietary specialization. Ten orders of insects were identified including Blattodae, Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Isoptera, Lepidoptera, Ordonata, Orthoptera and Trichoptera. These preys were categorized based on their hardness into five level; 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 with the largest number representing the highest in hardness. Based on the five classes of hardness, most Hipposideros species seems to feed on all five classes regardless of their skull size. There is no correlation between skull size and their hardness preference. Results from this study show that prey preference among species of Hipposideros is not based on their size alone but would have been potentially facilitated by the abundance of insect in specific localities.

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