Thyropteridae
The American bats adhesive disc ( Thyropteridae ) are a family bat from the superfamily of funnel -like ear ( Natalioidea ). The family consists of one genus, Thyroptera, with three species. With the Malagasy adhesive disc bat they have the adhesive discs together, but they differ in their structure and are probably only due to convergent evolution.
Dissemination
These bats live in America, their range extends from southern Mexico into middle South America ( Bolivia and southern Brazil).
Description
American holdfast bats are relatively small bats, they reach a body length 34-52 mm and a weight of 4 to 6 grams. The tail is very long (25 to 33 millimeters ), its tip extends beyond the Uropatagium ( the wing membrane between the legs) addition. The fur of these animals is colored reddish to brownish at the top, the underside is lighter. Their snouts are long, their ears pointed and funnel- shaped, a tragus is present. You have no nose leaf, but wart-like elevations on the snout, which presumably act as a sensory organ.
Your name have these bats from the round bales to the soles of the feet and at the base of the thumb, allowing them like a suction cup sticking to smooth surfaces. These bales are controlled by fine muscles and are so strong that one all the weight of the animal can carry. Special glands on these pads provide added support.
Way of life
These animals live in small groups of two to nine ( average of six ) animals, which consist of one or several males, several females and their young. When resting place is a whole group of a rolled sheet of a Heliconia or banana tree. This gives them shelter from the weather and visibility protection from predators. You sleep in a for bats unusual posture ( head up), where they hold with their holdfasts. Since suitable leaves have unfurled within a few days, they have almost every day to change the place of rest, where the group always stays together ..
The food of these animals consists almost entirely of insects.
Reproduction
American holdfast Bats can bring twice a year junior to the world, which, like most bats, outweigh single births. Newborns cling to the fur of the mother and accompany them on their forays in search of food until they have reached nearly half their weight.
The types
- Thyroptera tricolor is distributed from southern Mexico to Bolivia and Brazil. It has a reddish-brown top and a nearly white underside, the ears are black.
- Thryoptera discifera differs in the brown bottom and the yellowish, larger ears of T. tricolor. It is native of Nicaragua to the Amazon region.
- Thyroptera lavali was described in 1993 and lives in a small area in northeast Peru. It is larger and darker than the other two types. Due to its small distribution area it is listed by the IUCN as endangered.
- Thyroptera devivoi was described in 2006 and previously demonstrated for Brazil and Guyana.
- Thyroptera wynneae was described only in 2014 and so far detected in Peru and Brazil.