Pallid bats, Antrozous pallidus, despite being primarily insectivorous gleaning predators, consume nectar of the cardón cactus, Pachycereus pringlei, in the Sonoran Desert. It is unknown whether nectar feeding occurs in the Chihuahuan Desert of Texas, where pallid bats covered in pollen have been captured. We collected pollen samples from 67 pallid bats in Brewster County, Texas, United States, between April and August 2018. Pollen-covered pallid bats were captured in every month sampled. Pollen densities were three times higher on wings than on the head or ventral body. In all samples collected, the pollen was homogeneous and identified as Agave pollen. Although two species of Agave, A. havardiana and A. lechuguilla, occur in this region of Texas, linear discriminant analysis classified 701 of 723 (97%) of pollen grains analyzed as A. lechuguilla. Additional evidence from infrared video footage collected in August 2018 indicated that pallid bats became covered in A. lechuguilla pollen while consuming nectar. Pallid bats might be engaging in facultative nectarivory across their range and could be important nocturnal pollinators.

中文翻译：

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奇瓦瓦沙漠苍白蝙蝠、Antrozous pallidus 的龙舌兰花探访

苍白的蝙蝠，Antrozous pallidus，尽管主要是食虫性的采集掠食者，但在索诺兰沙漠中消耗卡东仙人掌 Pachycereus pringlei 的花蜜。目前尚不清楚德克萨斯州奇瓦瓦沙漠是否发生花蜜进食，那里已经捕获了覆盖着花粉的苍白蝙蝠。我们在 2018 年 4 月至 8 月期间从美国德克萨斯州布鲁斯特县的 67 只苍白蝙蝠身上采集了花粉样本。在每个采样月都捕获了被花粉覆盖的苍白蝙蝠。翅膀上的花粉密度是头部或腹体的三倍。在收集的所有样品中，花粉是均质的，并被鉴定为龙舌兰花粉。尽管在德克萨斯州的这个地区出现了两种龙舌兰，A. havardiana 和 A. lechuguilla，但线性判别分析将 723 个花粉粒中的 701 个（97%）分类为 A. lechuguilla。来自 2018 年 8 月收集的红外视频片段的其他证据表明，苍白的蝙蝠在食用花蜜时被 A. lechuguilla 花粉覆盖。苍白的蝙蝠可能在其范围内从事兼性蜜食，并且可能是重要的夜间传粉者。