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Frequent summer nuptial flights of ants provide a primary food source for bats

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Abstract

In many ant species, nuptial flight tends to be short in time and assumed to be synchronous across a large area. Here, we report that, in the upper Jordan Valley, northern Israel, massive nuptial flights of Carpenter ants (Camponotus sp.) occur frequently throughout the summer, and their alates form up to 90% of the diet of the greater mouse-tailed bat (Rhinopoma microphyllum) during this period. This fat and protein-rich diet enables female bats to lactate during summer, and the large amount of fat that both sexes accumulate may serve as an energy source for their following winter hibernation and posthibernation mating in early spring (March–April). We suggest that the annual movement of these bats to the Mediterranean region of Israel may have evolved in order to enable them to exploit the extremely nutritious forms of ant alates when the bats’ energetic demands are highest.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Abraham Hefetz, John O. Whitaker, and Robert B. Suter for reading and commenting on an early draft, Naomi Paz for editing the manuscript, Tamar Katzav-Gozansky and Shai Meiri for fruitful discussions, and Armin Ionescu-Hirsch for identifying the ants. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This work was supported by The Open University of Israel Research Fund to AB and by the Israel Cohen Chair for Environmental Zoology to YYT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Eran Levin & Yoram Yom-Tov

  2. Department of Natural and Life Sciences, The Open University of Israel, Ra’anana, Israel

    Anat Barnea

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  1. Eran Levin
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  2. Yoram Yom-Tov
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  3. Anat Barnea
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Correspondence to Eran Levin.

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Levin, E., Yom-Tov, Y. & Barnea, A. Frequent summer nuptial flights of ants provide a primary food source for bats. Naturwissenschaften 96, 477–483 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0496-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0496-3

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