Tube-lipped Nectar Bat

Taxobox | name = Tube-lipped Nectar Bat
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Chiroptera
familia = Phyllostomidae
genus = "Anoura"
species = "A. fistulata"
binomial = "Anoura fistulata"
binomial_authority = Muchhala, 2005The Tube-lipped Nectar Bat ("Anoura fistulata") is a bat from Ecuador which was first described in 2005. [cite journal|last=Muchhala|first=Nathan|coauthors=Patricio Mena, and Luis Albuja|year=2005|title=A NEW SPECIES OF ANOURA (CHIROPTERA: PHYLLOSTOMIDAE) FROM THE ECUADORIAN ANDES|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|volume=86|issue=3|pages=457–461|url=http://www.bio.miami.edu/muchhala/Muchhala_etal_05.pdf|format=PDF, Reprint|accessdate=2006-12-07|doi=10.1644/1545-1542(2005)86 [457:ANSOAC] 2.0.CO;2|doilabel=10.1644/1545-1542(2005)86[457:ANSOAC]2.0.CO;2] The bat has the longest tongue (8.5 cm) relative to its body size of any mammal; its tongue is 150% the size of its overall body length.

By convergent evolution pangolins, the giant anteater, "Myrmecophaga tridactyla", and the tube-lipped nectar bat all have tongues which are detached from their hyoid bone and extend past their pharynx deep into the thorax. [Nectar bat stows huge tongue in its rib cage. N. Muchhala, Nature (2006) 444, 701] This extension lies between the sternum and the trachea.

Despite its exceptionally long tongue, the tube-lipped nectar bat has a varied diet that includes nectar, pollen and insects. This arrangement is possible due to its short jaw; the base of the tongue is in the bat's rib cage. [cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16076506/|title=Bat found to have longest licker|author=Bryner, Jeanna|publisher=MSNBC|accessdate=2006-12-07] One plant, "Centropogon nigricans" with its 8-9 cm-long corollas, is pollinated exclusively by this bat.

ee also

*Geoffroy's Tailless Bat
*Tailed Tailless Bat

References

External links

* [http://asm06.org/abstract_submission/title_index.php?gid=8 Bat with record-breaking tongue length pollinates highly specialized flower] . Nathan Muchhala, Department of Biology, University of Miami.