Acoustic identification of free-flying Schreiber's bat Miniopterus schreibersii by social calls

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Despite the recent advances in the identification of bat echolocation calls, some species are still difficult or impossible to distinguish at least under certain habitat conditions. Social calls are generally species-specific and may be successfully used to tell species apart. Echolocation calls of Miniopterus schreibersii can be distinguished from those of Pipistrellus pipistrellus and P. pygmaeus in many cases, especially when a multivariate approach to call identification is used, but call variables of these species still show a certain degree of overlap. In this study we provide a description of M. schreibersii social calls. They can be recorded both in roosting and foraging areas and their structure differs greatly from that known for social calls of the above-mentioned pipistrelles. Recording social calls from this species may lead to unambiguous identification and help assess its distribution when echolocation calls alone do not suffice.