Antilles flower bats
| Antilles flower bats | ||||||||||||
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Erophylla sezekorni planifrons |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Phyllonycterinae | ||||||||||||
| Miller , 1907 |
The Antilles blossom bats (Phyllonycterinae) are a bat taxon , they form a subfamily of the leaf noses (Phyllostomidae). In this subfamily, two genera, Erophylla and Phyllonycteris , with a total of five living species are combined.
description
The head of these bats is characterized by an elongated snout with a tiny or missing nosepiece. Like the blossom bats , they have a long tongue that is provided with brush-like papillae and is used to absorb nectar . Their fur is silver or yellowish. These animals reach a head body length of 65 to 83 millimeters, the 7 to 17 millimeter long tail protrudes from the very small uropatagium (the flight membrane between the legs).
Way of life
These bats live in the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles . They sleep in caves during the day, often in groups of several hundred animals. At night they go in search of food, whereby they are not very picky. They consume fruits, nectar, pollen and insects.
Types and distribution
The group is divided into two genera:
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Erophylla
- Erophylla bombifrons lives in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico .
- Erophylla sezekorni isnativeto the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands , Cuba, and Jamaica .
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Phyllonycteris
- Phyllonycteris aphylla is endemic to Jamaica. Due to the destruction of its habitat, it is listed as threatenedby the IUCN .
- Phyllonycteris poeyi isnativeto the Greater Antilles . The wingspan is up to 35 cm, the weight ranges from 15 to 30 g. In contrast to smaller species, Phyllonycteris poeyi has to land on the flower to get the nectar. The sleeping places are in warm caves with a constant temperature of up to 37 ° C. The humidity in these caves is up to 99%. The climate in these warm caves is created by the sheer number of Phyllonycteris poeyi with up to one million animals ( Cueva de las Majáes ) that live there. Manyplants endemic to Cubadependon the pollination of Phyllonycteris poeyi , including the imposing royal palm ( Roystonea regia ).
- Phyllonycteris obtusa lives on Hispaniola. In many systematics P. obtusa is only listed as a subspecies of P. poeyi , for example also by the IUCN .
- Another species, Phyllonycteris major , is known from Puerto Rico and Antigua . The species is likely to have died out before the arrival of the Europeans.
Distribution area of Erophylla bombifrons
Distribution area of Erophylla sezekorni
Distribution area of Phyllonycteris aphylla
Distribution area of Phyllonycteris poeyi (incl. P. obtusa )
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
