Insects eaten by bats of Minnesota
In this study, we use insect DNA extracted from bat feces to describe differences in the diet composition of three bat species in Minnesota: Eptesicus fuscus (big brown bats), Myotis lucifugus (little brown bats) and M. septentrionalis (northern long-eared bats). Eptesicus fuscus consistently foraged for a higher diversity of beetle species compared to other insects. while M. septentrionalis consistently preyed more often upon non-flying arthropods. We used the same set of COI sequences to determine the presence of pest species, rare species, and insects not previously observed in Minnesota by referencing existing public databases. We observed the likely range expansion of many insects.