Furipteridae

Furipterus horrens

The stub thumb ( Furipteridae ) are a family from the suborder of bats ( Microchiroptera ), where they are expected to the superfamily of the funnel -like ear ( Nataloidea ). The family includes two genera, each with a kind

Dissemination

Stub thumbs are native to Central and South America, their range extends from Costa Rica to northern Chile and Brazil.

Description

It is relatively small bats, they reach a body length of three to six centimeters and a weight of three to five grams. The eponymous feature is the strong back to the stub formed thumb, which barely protrudes from the skin. Her head is round, with a strikingly high forehead, the muzzle is short and has cut off. The ears are large, their base is so close to the eyes, that these animals act almost eyeless from scratch. The muzzle looks like a pig with the standing close together, looking forward or down nostrils. The tail, which is nearly as long as the body is entirely covered by the Uropatagium ( the wing membrane between the legs), the legs are relatively long, the feet, however small. The rough -looking fur of these animals is colored gray or brown.

Way of life

When resting places serve them caves, hollow logs and man-made dwellings such as old buildings and mines. They prefer it near water areas. You spend the day sleeping in larger groups of 100 to 300 animals, often in smaller sub- groups ( 4-30 animals) divided. At night, they go looking for food, with the help of echolocation they look for butterflies, their main food.

The types

• Furipterus horrens is the smaller of the two species and spread from Costa Rica to Brazil. Their habitat are predominantly moist forests.
• Amorphochilus schnablii is on the South American Pacific coast (from Ecuador to northern Chile) spread and the larger of the two species. It differs from beyond Furipterus horrens by wart-like projections on the snout. The species is IUCN as endangered.