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Ecosystem 

The Florida Bonneted bat lives in a diverse tropical ecosystem. This species of bats are primarily insectivores and are secondary predators on the food chain and fall prey to Birds of Prey and owls. Much about their roosting habitat is unknown, but we can infer that, like most bats in Florida, they roost in palms, concrete structures, and dead trees. Some of the organisms that share the bats ecosystem are:

  1. Barn Owls (Tyto alba) - Florida Bonneted bats main predator 

  2. Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides) - Common plant/moss that bats use to roost 

  3. Sabal Palms (Sabal palmetto) - A primary tree that is used by them to roost 

  4. Palm Rat (Rattus palmarum) - a rodent the lives in the same environment 

  5. Ground Beetles (Family: Carabidae) - Beetles have been found in the scat of Florida bonneted bats.

  6. Fall army worms (Spodoptera frugiperda) - One on the main insects bonneted bats feed on. 

  7. Bed Bugs (Cimex lectularius) - a parasite the lives on bats and sucks and feeds on their blood 

  8. Mosquitoes (Family: Culicidae) - Also part of bonneted bat's diet 

  9. True Bugs (Order:Hemiptera) - As insectivores they eat a wide array of insects 

  10. Salmonella (Family: Enterobacteriaceae) - is a bacteria that can be found in bat guano

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