BONACCORSO: A PANAMANIAN BAT COMMUNITY


phaeotis, a feeding generalist, and Chiroderma trinitatum are nearly
equal in size.
 FOOD SELECTION.-All eight canopy frugivore species feed pri-
marily on fruits of large canopy and subcanopy trees, in particular figs
of the genus Ficus. Over 60 percent of the annual diet (by frequency of
occurrence of fecal pellets containing a given species of plant seeds) of
the seven fig specialists consists of fig fruits (Table 2). A. phaeotis
depends on figs for only 30 percent of its diet. Five species of Ficus, all
of which are green-colored at maturity, are eaten and dispersed by
these stenodermines on BCI. Fig trees that produce small fruits like F.
yoponensis and F. popenoaei are preferred by small bat species, and
trees that produce larger fruits like F. insipida and F. obtusifolia are
preferred by the larger bats.
 Figs form the bulk of the diet of Artibeus jamaicensis throughout
most of the year. However, during the latter part of the wet season and
the beginning of the dry season mature fig fruits are very scarce (Mor-
rison 1978). At this time A. jamaicensis turns more heavily to other
fruits and pollen (Table 3). The relative importance of pollen in the diet
of A. jamaicensis may be underestimated in Table 3, because my
sampling schedule did not coincide precisely with the period in late
December and early January when figs were very scarce and flowers
were very abundant. Similar seasonal switches in diet also probably
occur for A. lituratus and V. caraccioloi, but the data are weak. No con-
clusions are made from the scant data on the smaller canopy
frugivores about seasonal changes in diet.
 Unlike fig specialists, A. phaeotis eats a more even distribution of
 many types of fruits (Table 2 and 3) with no one species dominating
 the diet. Throughout the year figs are a minor component of the diet,
 while other fruits are very important in certain months. Cecropia
 eximia is an important food item from July to September, as is Spon-
 dias radlkoferi in November to January.

 TABLE 2.-PERCENT OF DIET FROM MOST IMPORTANT FOOD PLANT GENERAL AND SPECIES
 TAKEN FROM FECAL SAMPLES OF BATS IN THE CANOPY FRUGIVORE GUILD.
 Percent most Most Important Number of fecal
 Bat species important genera* species samples
 V. pusilla 92 Ficus F. yoponensis 13
 C. trinitatum 60 Ficus F. popenoaei 5
 A. phaeotis 30 Ficus Spondais radlkoferi 33
 V. helleri 67 Ficus F. insipida 6
 C. villosum 100 Ficus F. popenoaei 6
 V. caraccioloi 76 Ficus F. insipida 17
 A. jamaicensis 78 Ficus F. insipida 185
 A. lituratus 65 Ficus F. insipida 20
 *By frequency of occurrence as explained in Materials And Methods.