Preliminary Study of Habitat-Related Bat Fauna of Mastouta-Bishshouk Region (Northwest Tunisia) ...

• Main Authors: Dalhoumi, R., Nefla, A., Bedoui, W., Ouni, R., Aissa, P., Aulagnier, S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2019
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Pipistrellus pipistrellus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13491184; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13491184

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Abstract In order to define appropriate conservation measures in northern Tunisia we surveyed the bat fauna of Mastouta-Bishshouk region in both roosting sites and foraging areas. A total of 11 species was recorded. We found only three occupied roosts including a maternity colony of Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Miniopterus schreibersii and Myotis cappacinii in a train abandoned tunnel. A tunnel of water channel hosted Rhinolophus mehelyi , M. schreibersii and M. punicus . Echolocation calls were recorded at a bridge over Beja Wadi, at an artificial basin, and in crop fields. Bat activity was the highest at the bridge in late March, and null in the harvested crop fields in late August. Pipistrellus kuhlii was the most active bat species in the three sites, Pipistrellus pipistrellus was the second most active species, followed by Eptesicus isabellinus . Plecotus gaisleri and Myotis punicus were detected only once at the bridge and the basin respectively. This ...