Consumption event of the Pallas’s mastiff bat (Molossus molossus) by the Central America bark scorpion (Centruroides exilimanus) in Honduras

Abstract

Many arthropods including scorpions are carnivores, but the feeding habits of many species are unknown.  However, it is known they feed primarily on other arthropods and also include annelids and small vertebrates.  As such several scorpions are potential mammal predators, but there is not any report on scorpions feeding on bats.  Our objective is to report a feeding event on a Pallas’s mastiff bat (Molossus molossus) by the Central America bark scorpion (Centruroides exilimanus) in southern Honduras.  In order to document this event, we took photographs of the specimens, and the time the event occurred. There are several buildings and offices at the Clavo Rico mine in El Corpus, Choluteca, Honduras where we have observed three bat colonies.  The habitat in this area corresponds to subtropical moist forest.  On 20 October 2015 at 11:42 h we found a Central America bark scorpion pulling a female M. molossus from the ceiling of a building.  The scorpion probably found or captured the bat inside the ceiling, and it already had eaten parts of the bat's head when we found it.  Once on the floor the scorpion dragged the bat underneath of the building´s floor.  Scorpions are able to predate on vertebrates, although we did not observe the predation event, there are neither reports on bat necrophagy by scorpions and there are no known cases of bat predation by these arthropods.  Molossid bats perch in big groups even in sites where scorpions can easily access.  A mastiff bat predated in Honduras was much heavier than the bark scorpion that captured it, so if it is a predation event it shows the extraordinary predatory capabilities of an arthropod with a potent venom.