American noctule
| American noctule | ||||||||||||
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Nycticeius humeralis |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Nycticeius | ||||||||||||
| Rafinesque , 1819 |
The American noctule bat ( Nycticeius ) are a genus of bats from the smooth-nosed family (Vespertilionidae) which are native to North America and Cuba . The name of the genus comes from the Greek and means something like "belonging to the night".
description
American noctule bat has a head-to-trunk length of 45 to 65 mm, a tail length of 36 to 41 mm and a forearm length of 34 to 38 mm. Nycticeius humeralis weighs between 6 and 12 g. The fur color is brown, although the fur on the belly is usually lighter. The ears and the tragus are rounder than those of members of the mouse- eared species ( Myotis ). American noctule bats differ from the genera Scoteanax and Scotorepens in that they have a significantly longer instead of wider palate .
Way of life
American noctule bat , like most bats, are nocturnal. They feed on insects that are captured in flight, with small, relatively soft prey likely being preferred. American noctule swifts use echolocation calls to navigate and find prey , which are inaudible to humans. During the day, American noctule bats can be found in tree crevices, under loose bark, in buildings and rarely in caves. Mating is likely to take place in late summer and fall, with the females storing the sperm in the uterus until ovulation in spring.
Types and distribution
There are three known types:
- Nycticeius aenobarbus ( Temminck , 1840): Often used as a synonym for " Myotis albescens ", but differs significantly from this both in terms of species and genus. The species is only known from a museum specimen, which is why nothing is known about its way of life, distribution and endangerment.
- Nycticeius cubanus ( Gundlach , 1861): Was considered a subspecies of Nycticeius humeralis until 1974. The species is only distributed in western Cuba and is classified by the IUCN as potentially threatened ("near threatened").
- Nycticeius humeralis ( Rafinesque , 1818): Is distributed in the eastern United States and Mexico and is classified as safeby the IUCN .
Until 1987, it was assumed that the African common- nosed bat ( Nycticeinops schlieffeni ) as well as the large broad-nosed bats ( Scoteanax rueppellii ) and small broad-nosed bats (genus Scotorepens ) found in Australia also belong to the genus Nycticeius . The species, called Nycticeius emarginatus until 1971, is a synonym for Scotomanes ornatus .
literature
- RM Nowak (1994): Walker's Bats of the World , Johns Hopkins Univ. Pr., ISBN 0-8018-4986-1 , pp. 207-208.
swell
- ↑ Carter, DC and Dolan, PG (1978) Catalog of type specimens of Neotropical bats in selected European museums. Special Publications of the Museum of Texas Tech University 15: 1-136.
- ↑ Nycticeius aenobarbus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN .
- ^ Nycticeius cubanus in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .
- ↑ Nycticeius humeralis in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .
- ↑ Kitchener, DJ and Caputi, N. (1985) Systematic revision of Australian Scoteanax and Scotorepens (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), with remarks on relationships to other Nycticeiini, Records of the Western Australian Museum
- ↑ Sinha, YP and Chakraborty, S. (1971) Taxonomic status of the vespertilionid bat Nycticeius emarginatus Dobson. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Calcutta 24: 53-57.
