Saussure's long-nosed bat

Saussure's long-nosed bats
Mexican long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris nivalis)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Chiroptera
Family:	Phyllostomidae
Genus:	Leptonycteris Lydekker, 1891
Species
Leptonycteris curasoae Leptonycteris nivalis Leptonycteris yerbabuenae

The Saussure's long-nosed bats or Mexican long-nosed bats form the genus Leptonycteris within the leaf-nosed bat family Phyllostomidae.^[1] Like all members of the family, they are native to the Americas. According to ITIS, three species are currently recognised, though varying placements of the populations into species and subspecies will be encountered. The species recognised by ITIS are:

• Southern Long-nosed Bat, Leptonycteris curasoae
• Big Long-nosed Bat or Mexican Long-nosed Bat, Leptonycteris nivalis
• Lesser Long-nosed Bat or Mexican Long-nosed Bat, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae.

In view of the thorough ambiguity of the term "Mexican long-nosed bat", which can refer to the genus or to either of two of its species, the alternative common names are preferable.

These migratory bats are the main pollinators of several nocturnal blooming cactus species

References

1. ^ Simmons, Nancy B. (2005), "Chiroptera", in Wilson, Don E.; Reeder, DeeAnn M., Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 312–529, ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0, http://www.bucknell.edu/MSW3/browse.asp?s=y&id=13801171, retrieved 13 September 2009