Seasonal diet of Asellia tridens (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae) in North-Western Africa

Abstract The seasonal variations of the diet of the desert Trident leaf-nosed bat, Asellia tridens, were investigated using dropping analyses during the whole year 2015 in the Timimoun region, south-western Algerian Sahara. We identified one order of arachnids (Araneae) and ten orders of insects: Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, Orthoptera, Mantodea, Hemiptera, Isoptera, Ephemeroptera, Blattodea and Odonata in a decreasing rank. Coleoptera (31.07%) were Carabidae, Curculionidae, Chrysomelidae, Tenebrionidae, Aphodidae, Scarabaeidae, and Histeridae. Hymenoptera (21.31%) were Formicidae, Myrmicidae and Vespidae, Diptera (13.78%) were Culicidae and Tabanidae, and Orthoptera (11.40%) were Acrididae and Gryllidae. The autumn-winter diet (October to December) included a large amount of Odonata, Scarabaeidae, Blattodea, Acrididae and Myrmicidae. The spring-summer diet (February to August) was characterized mainly by Chrysomelidae, Vespidae, Tenebrionidae, Aphodidae and Araneae. As other desert bat species A. tridens displays a combination of opportunism and selective predation depending on the abundance of insect groups