Preferences for Different Sugars in Neotropical Nectarivorous and Frugivorous Bats

I tested the hypothesis that New World nectarivorous and frugivorous bats prefer sugars that predominate in fruits and nectars that they ingest. Accordingly, preference for the hexoses glucose and fructose over sucrose was predicted for two frugivorous (Artibeus jamaicensis and Sturnira lilium) and one nectarivorous (Anoura geoffroyi) species. I also determined digestive efficiency of A. geoffroyi and A. jamaicensis for solutions of sucrose, glucose, and fructose. Bats consistently preferred sucrose over equicaloric solutions of fructose and glucose. Sugars were assimilated with the same efficiency by both species. Results were not consistent with previous studies on other groups of pollinators and seed dispersers.