Leaf-nosed bat

Taxobox
name = Leaf-nosed bats
image_width = 240px


image_caption = "Macrotus waterhousii", Cartwright Cave, Long Island, Bahamas
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Chiroptera
familia = Phyllostomidae
familia_authority = Gray, 1825
subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies
subdivision = Brachyphyllinae
Carollinae
Desmodontinae
Glossophaginae
Phyllonycterinae
Phyllostominae
Stenodermatinae

The New World leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) are found throughout Central and South America, from Mexico to northern Argentina. They are ecologically the most varied and diverse family within the order Chiroptera. Most species are insectivorous, but the phyllostomid bats include within their number true predatory species. For example, the False Vampire, "Vampyrum spectrum", the largest bat in the Americas, eats vertebrate prey including small dove-sized birds. Members of this family have evolved to utilize food groups such as fruit, nectar, pollen, insects, frogs, other bats and small vertebrates, and, in the case of the vampire bats, even blood.

Both the scientific and common names derive from their often large, lance-shaped noses, greatly reduced in some of the nectar- and pollen-feeders. Because these bats echolocate nasally, this "nose-leaf" is thought to serve some role in modifying and directing the echolocation call. Similar nose-leaves are found in some other groups of bat, most notably the Old World leaf-nosed bats.

New World leaf-nosed bats are usually brown, grey, or black, although one species is white. They range in size from 4 to 13.5 cm in head-body length, and can weigh anything from 7 to 200 grams. Most roost in fairly small groups within caves, animal burrows, or hollow trees, although some species aggregate in colonies of several hundred individuals. They do not hibernate, although some species have been reported to aestivatecite book |editor=Macdonald, D.|year=1984 |title= The Encyclopedia of Mammals|publisher= Facts on File|location=New York|pages= 805|isbn= 0-87196-871-1] .

Classification

There are 148 described species within 48 genera, which are listed below.

*Family: Phyllostomidae
**Subfamily: Brachyphyllinae (Antillean Fruit-eating Bats)
***Genus: "Brachyphylla"
**Subfamily: Carollinae
***Genus: "Carollia" (Short-tailed Leaf-nosed Bats)
***Genus: "Rhinophylla"
**Subfamily: Desmodontinae (Vampire Bats)
***Genus: "Desmodus" (Common Vampire Bat)
***Genus: "Diaemus" (White-winged Vampire Bat)
***Genus: "Diphylla" (Hairy-legged Vampire Bat)
**Subfamily: Glossophaginae
***Genus: "Anoura" (Geoffroy's Long-nosed Bats)
***Genus: "Choeroniscus"
***Genus: "Choeronycteris" (Mexican Long-nosed Bat or Hog-nosed Bat)
***Genus: "Glossophaga"
***Genus: "Hylonycteris" (Underwood's Long-tongued Bat)
***Genus: "Leptonycteris" (Saussure's Long-nosed Bats)
***Genus: "Lichonycteris"
***Genus: "Lionycteris"
***Genus: "Lonchophylla"
***Genus: "Monophyllus"
***Genus: "Musonycteris" (Banana Bat or Colima Long-nosed Bat)
***Genus: "Platalina"
***Genus: "Scleronycteris"
***Genus: "Xeronycteris"
**Subfamily: Phyllonycterinae
***Genus: "Erophylla" (Brown Flower Bats)
***Genus: "Phyllonycteris" (Jamaican Flower Bat)
**Subfamily: Phyllostominae
***Genus: "Chrotopterus" (Peters's Woolly False Vampire Bat)
***Genus: "Lonchorhina" (Sword-nosed Bats)
***Genus: "Macrophyllum" (Long-legged Bat)
***Genus: "Macrotus" (Big-eared Bats)
***Genus: "Micronycteris" (Little Big-eared Bats)
***Genus: "Mimon" (Gray's Spear-nosed Bats)
***Genus: "Phylloderma" (Peters's Spear-nosed Bat)
***Genus: "Phyllostomus" (Spear-nosed Bats)
***Genus: "Tonatia" (Round-eared Bats)
***Genus: "Trachops" (Frog-eating Bat)
***Genus: "Vampyrum" (Linnaeus's False Vampire Bat or Spectral Vampire)
**Subfamily: Stenodermatinae
***Genus: "Ametrida"
***Genus: "Ardops" (Tree Bat)
***Genus: "Ariteus" (Jamaican Fig-eating Bat)
***Genus: "Artibeus" (Neotropical Fruit Bats)
***Genus: "Centurio" (Wrinkle-faced Bat or Lattice-winged Bat)
***Genus: "Chiroderma" (Big-eyed Bats or White-lined Bats)
***Genus: "Ectophylla" (White Bat)
***Genus: "Phyllops" (Falcate-winged Bats)
***Genus: "Pygoderma" (Ipanema Bat)
***Genus: "Sphaeronycteris"
***Genus: "Stenoderma" (Red Fruit Bat)
***Genus: "Sturnira" (Yellow-shouldered Bats or American Epauleted Bats)
***Genus: "Uroderma" (Tent-building Bats)
***Genus: "Vampyressa" (Yellow-eared Bats)
***Genus: "Vampyrodes" (Great Stripe-faced Bat)
***Genus: "Vampyrops" (White-lined Bats)

References