Intra- and Interspecific Variability of Echolocation Pulse Acoustics in the African Megadermatid Bats

The yellow-winged bat, Lavia frons, and the heart-nosed bat, Cardioderma cor, are sympatric species of the family Megadermatidae resident to East Africa. Cardioderma cor roost in groups and disperse to individual foraging areas at night, whereas L. frons roost in male-female pairs in Acacia trees within a foraging territory. Nightly foraging areas overlap across species, and thus interspecific differences in echolocation may reflect niche differences crucial for coexistence. Here we compare differences in echolocation from hand-released C. cor and L. frons, and L. frons individuals recorded during fly-bys. Furthermore, megadermatids display a host of social behaviors, including territoriality and singing, and thus intraspecific differences in echolocation may be important for facilitating behavior in this family but has not yet been assessed. We report the patterns of variability of echolocation by sex, body size, and individual of C. cor. We measured 354 pulses from 17 C. cor individuals and 35 pulses fr...