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Acoustic differentiation and its relationships with ear size in three Histiotus species (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) from Patagonia, Argentina

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Abstract

In Argentine Patagonia, three species of long-eared brown bats coexist, Histiotus macrotus, H. magellanicus, and H. montanus, which differ by ear length and other characters. Considering that pinna and tragus size and morphology may affect the perception of incoming echoes, we expected that differences in ear morphometry across species would match with interspecific variation in echolocation call structure. We studied echolocation calls of these species, recording calls of free-ranging Histiotus in eight localities from Chubut province (Argentina). We measured morphometric variables (mass, length of ear and tragus, forearm) in captured specimens. We analyzed eight acoustic parameters in 4020 recorded pulses (H. macrotus n = 2020, H. magellanicus n = 1409, and H. montanus n = 591). Principal components (PCA) and discriminant analyses (DFA) revealed that these species clearly segregate in acoustic space, consistent with interspecific differences in ear morphology. Comparatively, H. magellanicus with shorter ears (< 25 mm) emitted higher-frequency calls at short time intervals; by contrast, H. macrotus and H. montanus with longer ears (> 27 mm) emitted lower-frequency calls, in turn differentiating from each other by inter-pulse intervals. MANOVA indicated that these differences were highly significant. Redundancy analysis showed a strong correlation between ear and tragus length and acoustic structure. Our results suggest that these Histiotus species are distinguishable in terms of their bioacoustics, which likely have a functional basis linked to morphological variation of sensory organs.

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Additional acoustics data not included in the manuscript is available from corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We especially thank to Dirección de Fauna y Flora Silvestre; Subsecretaría de Conservación y Áreas Protegidas of Chubut Province; and Administración de Parques Nacionales that kindly granted research permits. We are grateful to the park rangers from APN Nant y Fall and ANP Piedra Parada for their help during field work. We especially thank to Dr. Gonzalo Pérez Suárez for his management in carrying out the project Echolocation of Patagonian bats; Francisca Cuhna Almeida and Jesus de Lucas Veguillas also assisted during field work; and Dr. Gabriel Martin for his revision and comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnicas (CONICET); Ciencia y Técnica, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco (Proyecto de Investigación N°1526, Resolución Rectoral Nº R/9 362–2019); and Universidad de Alcalá (Programa Giner de los Ríos 2018, grant to Analía Laura Giménez). The funding sources had no involvement in the development of the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas Y Técnicas - Universidad Nacional de La Patagonia San Juan Bosco), Chubut, Esquel, Argentina

    Analía Laura Giménez

  2. Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Evolución Y Biodiversidad (LIEB), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales Y Ciencias de La Salud, Universidad Nacional de La Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Esquel, Chubut, Argentina

    Analía Laura Giménez

  3. Departamento de Ciencias de La Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain

    Óscar De Paz

  4. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas Y Técnicas (CONICET), Fundación Miguel Lillo, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Norberto Pedro Giannini

  5. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Norberto Pedro Giannini

  6. Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA

    Norberto Pedro Giannini

Authors
  1. Analía Laura Giménez
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  2. Óscar De Paz
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  3. Norberto Pedro Giannini
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design, and all read and approved the final manuscript; ALG and ODP conducted field data collection, acoustics analysis, and manuscript writing and editing; NPG contributed statistical analyses and manuscript writing and editing. All co-authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Analía Laura Giménez.

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We followed the guidelines of Sikes et al. (2016) for mammal fieldwork and the legal requirements in the country and province for the care of animals. The study was conducted under the capture permits granted by Dirección de Fauna y Flora Silvestre (Disp. Nº 74/2019-DFyFS-M.P.), Subsecretaría de Conservación y Áreas Protegidas (Disp. Nº 072/19-SsCyAP) of Chubut province and Administración de Parques Nacionales (Argentina, DRPN Nº 1049).

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Communicated by: Facundo Luna

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Appendix

Appendix

Geographic coordinates (degree, minute, and second) of sampling localities of three Histiotus species in Chubut province (Argentina).

(1) Área Natural Protegida (ANP) Lago Baguilt, 43°16′10.57″S, 71°39′44.29″W. (2) Área Natural Protegida (ANP) Nant y Fall, 43°11′25″S, 71° 28′19″W. (3) Área Natural Protegida (ANP) Piedra Parada, 42°38′30″S, 70°05′59″W. (4) El Sombrero on Provincial Road 35 at ca. 50 km from Paso de Indios town, 44°03′03″S, 68°36′18.32″W. (5) Estancia El Principio, 42°59′27″S, 71°24′60″W. (6) Río Colihuay, Parque Nacional Los Alerces (PNLA), 42°40′40″S, 71°41′07″W. (7) Río Corinto on Provincial Road 34 at ca. 15 km from Trevelin City, 43°04′47.38″S, 71°18′23.55″W. (8) Río Percey, on Provincial Road 71 at ca. 17 km from Esquel City, 42°59′4.92″S, 71°29′18.96″W.

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Giménez, A.L., De Paz, Ó. & Giannini, N.P. Acoustic differentiation and its relationships with ear size in three Histiotus species (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) from Patagonia, Argentina. Mamm Res 68, 383–395 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-023-00688-0

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