Syntactic properties of male courtship song in the lesser short-tailed bat, Mystacina tuberculata

Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) have sophisticated acoustic abilities adapted to many uses, including both echolocation and social vocalisations. Social vocalisations are used in a wide variety of contexts vary greatly arrangement complexity. Among the most intricate courtship songs that males certain species use attract mates advertise their qualities. To date, however, few studies examined phonological construction bat or made detailed assessment syntax combine different song elements. Here, we examine syntactic New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat, Mystacina tuberculata , highly vocal, lek-breeding with exceptionally high song-output rates. We hypothesised this is hierarchical non-random, demonstrates degree individual variation, potentially allowing for recognition. recorded nine male bats manual classification components structure. Here whether deployment dependent on position, also determine transition probabilities between components. find frequency song-element production distribution elements within non-random at population level, number per phrase differs individuals. Overall, demonstrate M. hierarchically constructed employ build syllables phrases. further show structural similarity conservatism syllables, while retaining capacity versatility innovation allows considerable variation and, likely,