Angola bulldog bat

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Angola bulldog bat
Angola bulldog bat, cub

Angola bulldog bat, cub

Systematics
Superordinate : Laurasiatheria
Order : Bats (chiroptera)
Superfamily : Smooth-nosed (Vespertilionoidea)
Family : Bulldog bats (Molossidae)
Genre : pug
Type : Angola bulldog bat
Scientific name
Pug condylurus
( A. Smith , 1833)
Preparation of a female

The Angola bulldog bat ( Mops condylurus , Nyctinomus condylurus or Tadarida condylura ) is a species of bat from the family of bulldog bats (Molossidae), genus Mops , subgenus Mops . It comes with the exception of the dense rainforests in the Congo Basin and in Lower Guinea in much of Africa south of the Sahara before.

features

The Angola bulldog bat is a very small bat with no nosepiece . It can have a total length ( head-torso-length + tail length) of 9.6 to 12.7 cm, a wingspan of 34.8 to 36.8 cm and a weight of 16 to 39 g. Their back fur is black-brown, gray-brown, light gray or light gray-brown, sometimes with white spots. The hair is light at the base. The fur on the top of the head is the same color as the fur on the back. The peritoneum is gray-brown, light yellow, yellow-white or whitish. A white, central belly stripe can be different and also absent. The sides also show a whitish stripe. In a colony all colors can appear at the same time. The ears are black-brown and short. When placed forward, they only reach the middle of the muzzle. The tragus is small, angular and is hidden by the large antitragus. The wings are almost transparent, gray-brown near the body and become increasingly lighter towards the tip. The tip of the tail protrudes from the uropatagium (the skin between the legs). The uropatagium is dark gray-brown. Males and females look alike. Newborns have dark skin. The Angola bulldog bat has a dipole set of chromosomes (2n = 48).

In its jaws it has a total of 28 or 30 teeth. The dental formula is: .

Systematics

Four subspecies have been described, but not all populations have been assigned to a subspecies.

Some authors combine the genus Pug and the genus of the folding-lipped bats ( Tadarida ) into a single genus ( Tadarida ) or list Pug and the genus of the cantilever bat ( Chaerephon ) as subgenus of Tadarida . At the moment the genera pug and the fold-lipped bat are listed as separate genera. Genetic studies see the genera of the free-tailed bats together with the genus Pug as a monophyletic group .

Habitat and way of life

The Angolan bulldog bat is common and occurs in savannahs, tree savannahs (including miombo ), scrub, woodland, and rainforest with gaps. It is absent in dense, undisturbed rainforests, as well as in mountains (possible exception: Ethiopia ) and deserts (exception along rivers in Somalia ). It feeds on hard-shelled beetles but also on other, softer insects. These include Schnabelkerfe , butterflies and dragonflies . To catch insects, it flies above the treetops at heights of 100 meters or over savannas, clearings, clearings or bodies of water at a height of two to three meters. Often two people are hunted, with the second flying lower than the leading bat , probably to prey on insects that have dropped, avoiding the echo sounder sounds of the leading bat. The Angola bulldog bat has straight, slender wings and can therefore fly very quickly, but its maneuverability is limited and turns have a radius of more than 1.5 meters. During the day it rests in caves, holes in trees and palm trees, in mines or in buildings. The animals prefer to choose places that have a temperature between 35 and 42 ° C and often move from place to place to find the optimal temperature. In the South African winter, the species can withstand temperatures of less than 10 ° C. Every now and then roosts are shared with the lesser bulldog bat ( Chaerephon pumilus ). Large colonies stand out due to their pungent odor and high volume. They produce a lot of guano .

The Angola bulldog bat has only one young per litter. In their wide distribution area, the breeding season is different, but mostly coincides with the rainy season. If there are two rainy seasons in a region, young are born in both. They are suckled for around 50 to 80 days.

Predators, parasites and diseases

The proven predators of the Angola bulldog bat include the gorse cat ( Genetta maculata ), the bat ( Macheiramphus alcinus ) and other birds of prey. Parasites that attack it are found among fleas (6 species of the genus Lagaropsylla ), flat bugs , bat flies , ticks and mites (9 species). Viruses isolated from the Angola bulldog bat that cause disease in humans include Bunyamwera virus , Chikungunya virus , yellow fever virus , West Nile virus, and Zika virus . Other viruses that occur and are not infectious to humans as far as we know today include the Bukalasa bat virus , the Dakar bat virus and the Entebbe bat virus . It is also considered a possible reservoir for the Ebola virus and , according to a current study by RKI researchers , as a possible origin of the 2014 Ebola fever epidemic .

Etymology & Research History

The type specimen of the Angola bulldog bat was collected by Andrew Smith in South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal near Port Natal ( Durban ) and first described under the name Nyctinomus condylurus . The Artepithon condylurus is the Latinization of the two joined Greek words "κόνδυλος" (meaning bump, lump) and "οὐρά" (meaning "tail"), which refer to the crumpled, wrinkled appearance of the tail protruding from the tail skin.

Danger

Due to its wide distribution and the large number of individuals, the IUCN classifies the Angola bulldog bat as "not endangered" (least concern).

literature

  • Meredith Happold: Tadarida condylura. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold, Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa. Volume IV: Hedgehogs, Shrews and Bats. Bloomsbury, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2254-9 , pp. 505-507.

Web links

Commons : Angolan Bulldog Bat  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mops (Mops) condylurus Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (editors). 2005. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved November 25, 2017
  2. ↑ a b Mops condylurus in the Red List of Endangered Species of the IUCN 2017.2. Posted by: A. Monadjem et al., 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b Victor Van Cakenberghe, Ernest CJ Seamark (ed.): ACR. 2016. African Chiroptera Report 2016. African Bats . 2016, ISSN  1990-6471 , p. 393-398 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Happold (2013), p. 505.
  5. ↑ a b c Happold (2013), p. 507.
  6. ^ Mops condylurus in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  7. ↑ Ara Monadjem , Peter John Taylor , FPD (Woody) Cotterill , M. Corrie Schoeman: Bats of Southern and Central Africa: A Biogeographic and Taxonomic Synthesis . 1st edition. Wits University Press, Pretoria 2010, ISBN 978-1-86814-508-9 , pp. 295-301 .
  8. ↑ Pug in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  9. ↑ Renato Gregorin & Andrea Cirranello: Phylogeny of Molossidae Gervais (Mammalia: Chiroptera) inferred by morphological data . In: Cladistics . tape 32 , no. 1 , 2016, p. 2-35 , doi : 10.1111 / cla.12117 .
  10. ↑ Jennifer M. Lamb, Taryn MC Ralph, Theshnie Naidoo, Peter J. Taylor, Fanja Ratrimomanarivo, William T. Stanley and Steven M. Goodman: Toward a Molecular Phylogeny for the Molossidae (Chiroptera) of the AfroMalagasy Region . In: Acta Chiropterologica . tape 13 , no. 1 , 2011, p. 1-16 , doi : 10.3161 / 150811011X578589 .
  11. ↑ Happold (2013), p. 506.
  12. ↑ Fabian H. Leendertz et al. : Investigating the zoonotic origin of the West African Ebola epidemic. EMBO Molecular Medicine , December 30, 2014, doi: 10.15252 / emmm.201404792 (online)
  13. ↑ Andrew Smith: African Zoology. Nyctinomus condylurus . In: South African Quarterly Journal, ser. 2, 1 (2): p. 54 ( [1] )