Lesser long-nosed bat
Leptonycteris yerbabuenae
Leptonycteris yerbabuenae is a bat from the family of leaf lobes ( Phyllostomidae ), which is native to Central America.
The genus name is derived from the Greek Leptonycteris " leptos " ( = slim, slender ) and " Nycteris " ( = bat ) from. The species name yerbabuenae refers to the small village Yerbagüena in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, where the holotype was caught.
Description
Leptonycteris yerbabuenae was held only for a subspecies of Leptonycteris nivalis and later by Leptonycteris curasoae before she was confirmed in 2005 as a separate species. Where can happen the first two species are sympatric they are due to the weight ( L.yerbabuenae: 15-25 g, L. nivalis: 18-30 g) and forearm length ( L.yerbabuenae: 51-54 mm, L. nivalis: 56 from 0.5 to 59, 5 mm ) are different. Leptonycteris yerbabuenae also has a shorter, thicker fur than L.nivalis and is more brown than gray. Like most representative of the sheet tabs has also Leptonycteris yerbabuenae a clearly visible nose leaf. The snout is elongated as with all flower bats.
Way of life
Leptonycteris yerbabuenae is like most bats nocturnal and occurs in arid regions. Although Leptonycteris yerbabuenae regional overlaps with L.nivalis one finds the latter mostly in higher and cooler areas, while Leptonycteris yerbabuenae warm areas in the lowlands preferred. They can survive for up to an ambient temperature of 41 ° C and does not go into torpor or hibernation.
Leptonycteris yerbabuenae mainly feeds on pollen, nectar and fruits of agaves and cacti. The choice of forage plants is limited in northern populations exclusively on plants with a CAM metabolism, such as the cactus Cereus giganteus and the Organ Pipe Cactus. In the south, fed Leptonycteris yerbabuenae also of C3 plants. Your diet makes Leptonycteris yerbabuenae an important seed dispersers and pollinators of many Night Blooming plants. It is the main pollinators of Ceiba aesculifolia and probably many other wool tree plants. A foraging flight takes an average of five hours, with up to 100 km will be covered. Leptonycteris yerbabuenae takes about 40 kJ of energy per night. During the suckling period, however, requires a female to double the energy.
The long tongue is optimally adapted to the diet. It has a groove on the sides of the head small, hair -like papillae and in the middle. Thanks to the broad wings Leptonycteris is also yerbabuenae a skilled, agile flier that can float before a flower to take the nectar. Pollen is probably eaten by mistake when the animals groom themselves. The situation is similar with insects that are sometimes found in the stomach contents of the animals and are probably taken when drinking nectar. Fruits are eaten mainly by the females during lactation. The food of Leptonycteris yerbabuenae is rich in water but in protein and salt, which is why the species is poor not dependent on open water sources and thus optimally adapted to its dry habitat. It is assumed that Leptonycteris yerbabuenae one of the migrating bats that makes their migration on the abundance of food plants depend.
In the period in which the type is not at night in search of food, you will find the animals resting in caves, abandoned buildings, mines, rock crevices and hollow trees. During the day Leptonycteris yerbabuenae depends in caves and abandoned mines. In northern regions, while females form large groups of tens of thousands of individuals, males live in small groups and usually mix only during the mating season from June to September under the females. In southern areas, the pairing takes place from June to July. In time you will find mixed -sex colonies of up to 100,000 animals. In August, the males leave the colony, so that you can find from September to December only females in the groups. In January, the males return to the groups. At other bat species that are found in yerbabuenae by Leptonycteris inhabited caves are depending on the overlap of the distribution areas of the long-nosed bat ( Choeronycteris mexicana ), Corynorhinus townsendii, Macrotus californicus, Myotis velifer, Myotis thysanodes, the Mexican bulldog bat ( Tadarida brasiliensis), Mormoops megalophylla, Pteronotus davyi, Glossophaga morenoi, Glossophaga soricina, and Natalus stramineus.
Known predators include various owls and snakes. In addition, hood Skunks and Katzenfrette observed in caves where Leptonycteris yerbabuenae live.
Reproduction
Leptonycteris yerbabuenae give birth each year, a single cub. To the north is the birth in the spring, rather than in the south in winter. It is assumed that the time of birth is synchronized with the blooming of various forage crops. In the breeding season the females gather in mother colonies of up to 100,000 individuals in caves where the animals often return to the same place in different years. Newborns weigh an average of 7.3 g with a forearm length of about 28 mm. From a forearm length of 30 mm, the boys are covered with short gray hair, and from a forearm length of 46 mm, at the age of about one month, first flight attempts are made. The young are weaned at an age of 4-8 weeks
Dissemination
Leptonycteris yerbabuenae comes from southern Arizona and New Mexico about Mexico prior to Honduras. The IUCN estimates Leptonycteris nivalis as a vulnerable, as the population size has decreased in the last 10 years more than 30 %. This is mainly due to habitat destruction and the commercial use of caves.