Keywords
bats
Chiroptera
diet
distribution
Eptesicus
Katon-Karagay National Park
Kazakhstan
Myotis
Murina
Plecotus
Vespertilio
How to Cite
Abstract
Bat fauna surveys were conducted in the Katon-Karagay District of East Kazakhstan. The presence of six species was confirmed within Katon-Karagay National Park: Myotis petax, Myotis sibiricus, Myotis ikonnikovi, Eptesicus (Cnephaeus) nilssonii, Vespertilio murinus, and Plecotus ognevi. We also recorded Murina hilgendorfi, which had previously been reported in Kazakhstan only once in the Western Altai. In addition, the article reports the discovery of a notable specimen of the genus Murina found 28 km from the Chinese border. For three species (Plecotus ognevi, Murina hilgendorfi, and Myotis petax), evidence of reproduction was recorded in the study area. The most common species, found in almost all surveyed biotopes and observed at higher elevations above sea level, was Plecotus ognevi. Dietary analysis revealed that the overall trophic spectrum of the seven bat species studied encompassed members of the order Araneae (class Arachnida) and eight orders of the class Insecta (Ephemeroptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Neuroptera, Trichoptera, and Hemiptera). In most bats, representatives of the Lepidoptera order served as the main prey, whilst representatives of the order Diptera, even if they had a predominant abundance in the biotope, composed a minor proportion of the bat diet.
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