Antillean ghost-faced bat

Mormoops blainvillei

Mormoops blainvillei is a species of bat in the family chin Journal bats ( Mormoops ) which is located in the Greater Antilles. Mormoops blainvillii is a false but often-used alternative spelling.

Description

Mormoops blainvillei is provided with a forearm length of 44-49 mm and an average weight of 8.6 g of the smaller of the two species of the genus Mormoops. In Mormoops blainvillei the connection between the ears is less visible than in its sister species Mormoops megalophylla. Remarkable are the lobe-shaped growths on the face in the two species. Both Mormoops blainvillei and M. megalophylla have an unusual skull shape in which the muzzle is curved upwards. Forehead and muzzle case form an angle of almost 90 °. The coat is reddish to cinnamon, with a hair length of 6-11 mm.

Way of life

Mormoops is blainvillei nocturnal like most bats and feeds on insects, where butterflies are preferably captured. During the day the animals hang in colonies of up to 15,000 individuals in caves. After dark the way flies relatively late, probably overlapping with the main activity period of their preferred prey, the moths. When hunting the animals with their tail wing membrane forms a pocket, with which they shovel the insects in flight in her mouth. During the night the animals return between foraging flights again and again into her cave back. Mormoops is blainvillei monoöstrisch and brings each year only a single young is born. The mating season takes place in January and February, the birth in June. In August and September, the young animals are weaned from the mother.

Distribution and habitat

Mormoops blainvillei occurs on the Greater Antilles. The IUCN estimates the way thanks to their wide distribution and presumably large populations as a unharmed.