Bats provide multiple and valuable ecosystem services. Prior reviews have not been exhaustive. Here, we evaluate the research and impact of regulating and provisioning services bats provide using an up-to-date comprehensive global review. We selected 283 experimental studies that had a clear research question or hypothesis. Key remarks:

1. Most studies have been conducted in the Neotropical and Palearctic regions, and in deserts and forests.

2. The most common methods to assess ecosystem services have been insect traps, fecal samples, mist nets, and acoustic monitoring.

3. To improve the evaluation of the services provided by bats, we need to use standardized methodologies to look at variations in diet at multiple spatial andtemporal scales.

4. We need to calculate and highlight the value of ecosystem services, foster additional environmental education programs with multiple stakeholders, and prioritize conservations needs to protect bats. These actions are urgent, especially as the pandemic continues in many areas of the world.

We reappraise a fossil chelonibiid specimen from the Miocene of insular Tanzania that was previously referred to the living species Chelonibia caretta. This largely forgotten specimen is here described as the holotype of the new species †Chelonibia zanzibarensis. Microscopical analyses reveal that †C. zanzibarensis grasped its host's integument in much the same way as many modern coronulids—an observation that strengthens the unity of the turtle and whale barnacles while shedding some additional light on the evolution of the coronuloid shell structure in adapting to a broad spectrum of hosts.

Continuous variation within discrete color morphs has been greatly overlooked in the study of color polymorphisms. Combining visual models and genetic data to study intra-morph variation in the polymorphic lizard Podarcis muralis, we show that the genes associated with orange coloration (sepiapterin reductase [SPR]) and yellow coloration (beta-carotene oxygenase 2 [BCO2]) interact to generate intra-morph continuous variation in orange lizards.

Morphological, radiological, and histomorphometric analyses conducted on the bones that are the paratype and holotype of Candiacervus major suggest that this giant Cretan deer would have been affected by pituitary gigantism. This implies that:

1) One case of pituitary gigantism is described in an extinct animal for the first time

2) A well-known exception to the island rule ceases to exist

3) Paleohistology can make a contribution to solving taxonomic problems

Our long-term study shows that the ongoing advancement of spring onset is leading to an earlier access to highly nutritious early-growing plant stages, increasing diet quality in Pyrenean chamois. However, these earlier spring onsets had no effect on the diet composition, this latter being rather related to population densities. Thus, while consuming the same proportions of plant groups, chamois obtained a more nutritious diet during earlier springs.

Males of plain prinia in invasive smooth cordgrass habitat sang shorter songs and added more display flights than those of native habitat during breeding season. This study reveals that vocal behavior variation of a native songbird in the process of adapting to exotic plant habitat.

Sex-linked markers frequencies of Rana dybowskii from 3 population and the inheritance patterns of sex-linked markers.

Variation in prey diversity in the environment triggered the shift between nested and modular individual resource networks in 3 species of salamanders, as predicted by optimal diet theory models.

The botfly infestation intensity of Przewalski’s horses were investigated for 13 years in Kalamaili Nature Reserve, China. The intensity and composition of botflies were affected by winter precipitation indirectly in Przewalski’s horses. The distribution of artificial water sources sites should be considered for decreasing the intensity of equines during the infection period of botflies.

Black bears have a matrilinear hierarchy that promotes their young.

Pedipalp kinematics in 2 whip spider species were examined, excursion angle data collected, and the ecological significance is considered.

The multilevel society in the Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti). Here, based on 11 years of wild-field observation (e.g. social unit dynamics, transfer, and behavior), we revealed the potential connection between the defense and invasion of social units and the gut microbiome community in wild Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys. We provided evidence that multilevel societies have a profound effect on the gut microbiome in this wild nonhuman primate species. The gut microbiome might be used as a proxy for social structure.

Contrary to common expectations, the slow-dispersing and habitat specialist Alpine salamander (Salamandra atra) shows higher intrapopulation diversity and interpopulation gene flow than the mobile generalist common frog (Rana temporaria) in the Swiss Alps. Their discordant phylogeographic patterns are best explained by historical processes linked to the Quaternary glaciations, together with intrinsic differences in population dynamics.