Small Mexican flower bat
| Small Mexican flower bat | ||||||||||||
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Small Mexican flower bat ( Leptonycteris yerbabuenae ) |
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| Leptonycteris yerbabuenae | ||||||||||||
| Martinez & Villa , 1940 |
The little Mexican flower bat ( Leptonycteris yerbabuenae ) is a bat from the leaf-nosed family (Phyllostomidae) that is native to Central America.
The generic name Leptonycteris is derived from the Greek "leptos" (= slender, delicate) and "nycteris" (= bat). The species name yerbabuenae refers to the small village of Yerbabuena in Guerrero state , Mexico , where the holotype was caught.
description
The Mexican lesser blossom bat was first thought to be a subspecies of Leptonycteris nivalis and later of Leptonycteris curasoae before it was confirmed as a separate species in 2005. Where the first two species occur sympatricly , they can be identified based on their weight ( L. yerbabuenae : 15–25 g, L. nivalis : 18–30 g) and forearm length ( L.yerbabuenae : 51–54 mm, L. nivalis : 56 , 5–59.5 mm). Leptonycteris yerbabuenae also has a shorter and denser coat than L.nivalis and is more brownish than gray. Like most representatives of the leaf noses , the small Mexican flower bat also has a clearly visible nasal leaf . As with all flower bats , the snout is elongated.
Way of life
Like most bats, the Mexican small flower bat is nocturnal and occurs in arid regions. Although Leptonycteris yerbabuenae overlaps regionally with L. nivalis , the latter is mostly found in higher and cooler areas, while Leptonycteris yerbabuenae prefers warm areas in the lowlands. It can survive up to an ambient temperature of over 41 ° C and does not go into torpor or hibernation .
The little Mexican flower bat feeds mainly on pollen , nectar and fruits from agaves and cacti . In northern populations, the choice of forage plants is limited exclusively to plants with a CAM metabolism such as the cactus Cereus giganteus and the organ pipe cactus . In the south, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae also feeds on C3 plants .
The way they eat makes the little Mexican flower bat an important seed disperser and pollinator of many night-flowering plants. It is the main pollinator of Ceiba aesculifolia and probably many other woolen trees . A foraging flight takes an average of five hours, with a distance of up to 100 km. Leptonycteris yerbabuenae consumes around 40 kJ of energy per night. During the suckling period, however, a female needs up to twice as much energy.
The long tongue is optimally adapted to the diet. It has small, hair-like papillae on the sides of the tip and a groove in the middle. Thanks to its wide wings, the Mexican Little Blossom Bat is also a skilful, agile flyer that can hover in front of a flower to absorb the nectar. Pollen is likely to be accidentally eaten only when the animals are grooming. The situation is similar with insects, which can sometimes be found in the stomach of the animals and are likely to be ingested when they drink nectar. Fruits are mainly eaten by the females during the suckling period. The diet of Leptonycteris yerbabuenae is rich in water but poor in protein and salt, which is why the species does not depend on open water sources and is therefore optimally adapted to its dry habitat. It is assumed that Leptonycteris yerbabuenae belongs to the migrating bats that make their migratory movements dependent on the abundance of forage plants.
When the species is not looking for food at night, the animals can be found resting in caves, abandoned buildings, mines, crevices and hollow trees. During the day, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae hangs in caves and abandoned mines. In northern regions, females form large groups of tens of thousands of individuals, with males living in smaller groups and usually only mixing with the females during the mating season between June and September. In more southern areas, mating takes place between June and July. During that time, mixed-sex colonies of up to 100,000 animals can be found. In August the males leave the colonies, so that between September and December only females can be found in the groups. In January, the males return to the groups. Other bat species that are in by yerbabuenae Leptonycteris place inhabited caves are depending on the overlap of distribution areas, the long-nose bat ( Choeronycteris mexicana ), Corynorhinus townsendii , Macrotus californicus , Myotis velifer , fringed myotis , the Mexican free-tailed bat ( Tadarida brasiliensis ), ghost-faced bat , Pteronotus davyi , Glossophaga morenoi , Glossophaga soricina , and Natalus stramineus .
Known predators include various owls and snakes . Crested skunks and cat frets have also been observed in caves where Leptonycteris yerbabuenae live.
Reproduction
Females give birth to a single young each year. In the north, the birth takes place in spring, in the south in winter. It is assumed that the time of birth is synchronized with the flowering of various forage plants. During the whelping season, the females gather in mother colonies of up to 100,000 individuals in caves, with the animals often returning to the same place in different years. Newborns weigh an average of 7.3 g with a forearm length of approx. 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 attempts at flight are made. The young are suckled up to 4–8 weeks of age.
distribution
The small Mexican flower bat occurs from southern Arizona and New Mexico via Mexico to Honduras . The IUCN assesses Leptonycteris nivalis as vulnerable because the population size has decreased by more than 30% in the last 10 years. The reason for this is mainly the destruction of the habitat and the commercial use of caves.
literature
- E. Cole, DE Wilson (2006) Leptonycteris yerbabuenae. In: Mammalian Species . No. 797, pp. 1-7.
