Collection: Part A0, D0 and E motifs
of the type D social call of the Nathusius' pipistrelle (Pipistrellus nathusii)
How I categorize the type D social call motifs of the Nathusius' pipistrelle:
A part A1 can also contain a pre-part that I will call part A0. These are some extra components in front of the main motif (see the two snippits on the right). In the example below, I suspect that this part A0 is used as a stand-alone motif (or simply cut off after) inbetween the other parts.
Date of recording: 2024-06-26 Recorded by: Menno van Berkum Audio file: 919195
The following sequence appears to be the motifs A0-B-C:
Date of recording: 2025-07-14 Recorded by: Boaz van Die Audio file: 1016853
Some part A1 motifs without and some with the part A0 pre-motif in front:
Date of recording: 2024-06-26 Recorded by: Cas van Joolingen Audio file: 917084
The following sequence consists of the motifs part A(1,2), B, C, B and E:
Date of recording: 2024-05-20 Recorded by: Gijs Peters Audio file: 911550
The following sequence consists of the motifs part B, B-C and B-E:
Date of recording: 2024-06-14 Recorded by: Nils Reinerie Audio file: 913335
The following sequence consists of the motifs part A-B-E, B-C and B-C:
Date of recording: 2024-05-28 Recorded by: Anice Hut Audio file: 911811
The following sequence consists of the motifs part A-B, B-E and B-C:
Date of recording: 2024-07-02 Recorded by: Gijs Peters Audio file: 918333
The following sequence consists of the motifs part A-B-C, B-C, B-C and B-E:
Date of recordings: 2024-05-26 Recorded by: Niels Jansen Audio files: 921716
The following sequence consists of the motifs part A1-B-C and A0-B-C. Hooked echolocation calls are also present in the recording.
Date of recording: 2024-05-25 Recorded by: Olivier van Aken Audio file: 911361
The snippit on the right shows the motifs part B-E. An unusual kind of social call (a trill) is also present in this recording.
The two snippits below are from the same recording. The first snippit contains the sequence part B, B-C and B-E-B. The second snippit contains the sequence A-B-E and A-B-C. This recording also contains unsusual social calls (two wavy-line calls).
I explain more about my categorization of unusual social calls of the Nathusius' pipistrelle in this blog post.
The following sequence contains the motifs part A(1,2)-B-E and A(1,2)-B-C-D:
Date of recording: 2024-08-21 Recorded by: Wendy Baars Audio file: 936228
The following two snippits are from the same recording. The first snippit, altough faintly, contains the motifs part D, B, E, B, a joined part A motif (trill), B and another trill. The second snippit contains the sequence part A-B-C-B-C-B-C-B-C-E-D.
Date of recording: 2024-06-19 Recorded by: Levi Laluan Audio file: 914575
The following two snippits contain two individual Nathusius' pipistrelle bats whom are both emitting social calls. In the first snippit, one bat emits the motifs B-C-B-C-B-C-B-E and the other bats emits a trill directly after. In the second snippit, the first bat emits the motifs A-B-C-B-E and the other bat emits another trill after.
The following sequence consists of the motifs part A-B-A-B, a wavy-line call, B and B-E. Multiple trills are present in this recording.
Date of recording: 2024-08-19 Recorded by: Declan Frerichs Audio files: 929731
The following three snippits are from the same recording. The first snippits show the sequence motif A-B-C-B-E. The second snippit shows the sequence motif B-C-B-E-B. In the third snippit a part E motif is present, but at least two Nathusius' pipistrelle bats are emitting type D social call sequences at the same time.
Date of recordings: 2024-08-02 Recorded by: Ricardo Woudsma Audio files: 924684
The following sequence contains the motifs A(0,1,2)-B-C-D:
Date of recordings: 2024-08-04 Recorded by: Ricardo Woudsma Audio files: 924994
In the snippit on the right, altough faintly, a sequence consisting of motif A-B-C-B-E is shown (from recording 925837):
The sequence part A(0,1)-B-C-B was used five times in this recording. One time the sequence part A-B-C-B-C-B was used.
Date of recording: 2024-08-17 Recorded by: Elise de Groot Audio file: 928887
Perhaps this one doesn't belong in the category of a part A0 pre-motif, but this might be the longest part A1 motif I have seen:
These part E motifs (near the end of both snippits) were emitted alongside many other motifs, including the part B-C sequence, wavy-line calls and trills:
Date of recording: 2024-08-19 Recorded by: Declan Frerichs Audio file: 929731
The following sequence contains the motifs A(1,2)-B-C-D(0,1)-D1-D1-D1-D1:
The following snippits show that the part D0 pre-motif is not strictly bound being in front of a part D1 motif, since the cluster of FM-components are also emitted directly in front of part B motifs. The first snippit contains the sequence part A(1,2)-B-C-D0-B-D0-B-D(0,1)-D. The other snippits contain variations of that sequence.
The following sequence contains the motifs B-C-B-E:
Date of recording: 2024-08-23 Recorded by: Daan Meerhof Audio file: 930599
The following snippit contains the sequence of the motifs B-C-B, B-E and B-C-B. The part E motif is present three times in these recordings alongside wavy-line calls and trills, other type D social call motifs and type C social calls.
The first snippit show two unusual calls that might be stand-alone part A0 motifs. The second snippit contains the sequence part A(0,1)-B two times of whom the A0 part are exceptionally emphasized by their number of components and shift in frequencies.
The following recordings contain many types of social calls and modified echolocation calls. The part E motif is emitted at least four times. The first snippit contains the sequence motif A-B-C-B-E-D. The second snippit contains the sequence motif A-B-C-B and B-C-B-E. The last snippit shows the motifs part A(0,1)-B-C near the end.
The following snippits contain the part D0 motif in front of part D1 motifs and in front of part B motifs to be followed by a part D(0,1) motif.
Altough not very clear, this appears to be the sequence part A-B-C-B-C-B-B-B-B-B-B-D(0,1). Perhaps there might be some part D0 motifs in front of the part B motifs.
Date of recording: 2024-08-28 Recorded by: Kaia Pieters Audio file: 936307
This snippit contains the sequence part A-B-C-D0-D1(*n) twice:
Date of recording: 2024-08-29 Recorded by: Menno van Berkum Audio file: 936327
The first snippit contains the motifs part A1, a streched out part A0 and a part A(0,1)-B-C. The recording also contains part E motifs, but social calls by another bat were emitted at the same time. Unusual social calls such as trills were present as well.
Date of recording: 2024-09-05 Recorded by: Sander Boersma Audio file: 932327
This seems to be a part A0 motif followed by part A(0,1)-B-C motifs:
These snippits are from two recordings from the same survey that contain part D0 motifs. The part A0 motif is also sometimes present in front of a part A1 motif.
The recording is not as clear, but part D0 motifs are present:
Date of recording: 2024-09-09 Recorded by: Luuk Verdonk Audio file: 936304
In the following snippits, gathered from multiple recordings of the same event, the part E motif is present alongside other type D social call motifs. Unusual social calls such as trills and wavy-line calls are also present in the recordings. In the first snippit the sequence A-B-C-B-C-E-A-B-C, B-C-B-C-B-C, B and A-B-C-E is present. In the second snippit the sequence A-B-C-B-C-E-B-C and B-C is present. In the third recording the sequence A-B-C-B-C-A-B-C-B-E-A-B-C is present.
This snippit contains the sequence motif A-B-C-B-C-B-E, B-C-B and B-C.
Not the most clear recording, but a clear part A(0,1,2) motif can be seen:
Date of recording: 2024-09-12 Recorded by: Iris van der Horn Audio file: 947659
This snippit contains either a prolonged part D0 motif directly in front of the first part D1 motif:
Date of recording: 2024-09-13 Recorded by: Lisa Vermaning Audio file: 935107
A very streched out part A0 motif between 2,400s and 2,600s:
The following snippit contains the sequence motif part A-B-C-B-C-B-C-B-E-A-B-C-B and A-B-C:
Date of recordings: 2024-09-15 Recorded by: Nils Reinerie Audio file: 934345
The following three snippits show the use of the part D0 motif. The first snippit contains an interesting sequence: the motifs part A-B-C-D0-B-B-C-D0-B-D(0,1)-D1-D1-D1-D1-C-D0-B-C-D0-B-D0-B-D0-B-D0-B-D(0,1). I do wonder sometimes if it truly is a part B motif supplementing the part D0 motif or if the last FM component is simply how some part D0 motifs end.
Multiple part E motifs are present in the following two recordings of the same survey. The snippit shows the motifs part D and A-B-E.
The following two snippits show the use of part D0 motifs:
A part E motif inbetween two part A-B-C syntaxes, all emitted by the same individual in flight:
Date of recording: 2024-09-17 Recorded by: Molito Fego Audio file: 935301
The following two snippits show the use of part D0 motifs:
The following snippits are from multiple recordings of the same survey that all contain D0 motifs. The part D0 motifs clearly merges into D1 motifs in most examples. The part B motif is also used directly after the part D0 motif to be repeated by a D0-B or to be finished by a D0-D1. The first snippit contains two V-shaped components - perhaps some variant of or a partially joined-up part D0 motif?
The first snippit contains components that could be considered part A0 in front of the part A motif. The seecond snippit contains a part D0 after the second part B and directly in front of the first part D motif.
The first recording contains multiple part E motifs. The first snippit shows the sequence: motifs part A-B-C-B-C-B-C and A-B-E. The second recording is made three weeks later at the same spot. Another part E motif was recorded, as shown in the second snippit, within the sequence part A-B-C-B-E.
The following sequence contains the motifs A-B-C and B-E:
Date of recording: 2025-06-15 Recorded by: Sarah Mahie Audio file: 1006727
The following sequence contains the motifs part B, B, A-B-C, B-E and B-C.
Date of recording: 2025-04-29 Recorded by: Boaz van Die Audio file: 993273
The following recordings, from the same evening, contain multiple part E motifs. The last three recordings were made three months later in the same forest.
The following four recordings, from the same survey, contain multiple part E motifs. The first snippit contains the sequence part B-C-B-E, B-C, B-C and B-C-B-E. The second snippit shows the sequence part A-B-C-B-E.
The following sequence contains the motifs A-B-C-B-E. The part E motif looks very different from a part D0 motif.
Date of recordings: 2025-07-19 Recorded by: Sarah Mahie, Boaz van Die Audio files: 1017415
The first snippit show an extreme part A0 directly in front of the part A motif. The second snippit shows the use of a part D0 motif.
The use of part D0 motifs:
Date of recording: 2025-08-22 Recorded by: Liam Mulder Audio file: 1031809
The following four recordings contain mutliple part E motifs alongside other type D social call motifs and unusual social calls such as wavy-line calls. All were recorded while two bats were seen chasing each other. Part A-B-C-B-E was the most used syntax. Sometimes additional B-C motifs were present in the middle of this syntax.
In the following two snippits of the same recording, the sequence part A-B-C-E and B-C was repeated three times. Wavy-line calls / trills were present as well.
Date of recording: 2025-09-13 Recorded by: Sandra Rademaker Audio file: 1040663
The part E motif is used along a variety of other motifs in the following snippits:
Date of recording: 2025-09-23 Recorded by: Liam Mulder Audio file: 1041831
Author note: The D0 motif is only present when the bat emits the calls stationary. The part E motif is most often emitted while the bat is in flight.
All recordings are licensed under the following Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 license and in courtesy of Sarah Mahie.
All sonograms are screenshots of the recordings imported in the ultrasound analysis software BatExplorer 2.2 (Elekon, Switzerland).
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