Silver-tipped mouse-ear
| Silver-tipped mouse-ear | ||||||||||||
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| Myotis albescens | ||||||||||||
| ( Geoffroy , 1806) |
The silver-tipped mouse- eared bat ( Myotis albescens ) is a species of bat from the smooth-nosed family (Vespertilionidae), which is native to Central and South America.
description
The silver-tipped mouse-ear is a medium-sized mouse - ear with an average weight of 6 g. The fur is long (> 4 mm) and silky. The basic color is dark brown to black. The Latin species name albescens refers to the white hair tips on the back and the whitish peritoneum. The tail membrane is only slightly hairy.
Way of life
The silver-tipped mouse-ear is often found in buildings and other structures. The natural sleeping places are under tree bark, in hollow trees and tree holes, as well as in crevices and caves. The animals can share their roosts with other species such as Eptesicus furinalis , the black mouse-eared mouse ( Myotis nigricans ), Molossus sinaloae and species of the genus Molossops , Eumops and Tadarida . The colonies consist of females and males; solitary animals are rarely found.
The silver-tipped mouse-ear does not hibernate, but can go to torpor during the cooler seasons with temperatures between 5 and 25 ° C during the day .
The species is a slow-flying insect eater. The food spectrum includes various beetles , two-winged birds and butterflies , but bones of small fish have also been found in the stomach. The silver-tip mouse-eared mouse-ear often flies over smooth surfaces at a height of a few centimeters in order to detect prey by means of echolocation and then to catch it with its feet. The echolocation calls have a frequency of 46 to 75 kHz and a volume of up to 111 dB.
The sulfur tyrant was observed as a predator .
Reproduction
The silvertip mouse-eared females are promiscuous and mate with multiple males. Males in colonies with several other males have larger testes than individual males in a group of females , corresponding to the increased sperm competition .
The silver-tipped mouse-ear becomes sexually mature from an age of less than one year, with females mating at 2 months. Females give birth to a single young 2–3 times a year after a gestation period of around 3 months. However, the gestation period of the second and third reproductive seasons within a year can be shorter.
The suckling period is about a month. While newborn young animals feed completely on mother's milk, the proportion of insects in the diet increases steadily with the loss of milk teeth, whereby young animals without milk teeth ultimately only feed on insects.
distribution and habitat
The distribution of the silvertip mouse-eared ear extends from southern Mexico to Bolivia . Their populations are classified as stable and safe by the IUCN thanks to their widespread distribution and relative tolerance to man-made disturbance.
literature
- JK Braun, QD Layman, MA Mares: Myotis albescens , Mammalian Species , No. 846 (2009): pp. 1-9
swell
- ↑ P. Myers (1977): Patterns of reproduction of four species of vespertilionid bats in Paraguay. University of California Publications in Zoology 107. pp. 1-41
- ↑ JO Whitaker Jr., JS Findley (1980): Foods eat by some bats from Costa Rica and Panama. Journal of Mammalogy 61. pp. 540-544
- ^ E. Fischer, RL Munin, JM Longo, W. Fischer, PR De Souza (2010): Predation on bats by Great Kiskadees. Journal of Field Ornithology 81. pp. 17-20
- ↑ GS Wilkonson, GF Mc Cracken (2003): Bats and balls: sexual selection and sperm competition in the Chiroptera. Pp. 128-155 in Bat ecology (TH Kunz and MB Fenton, eds.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois
- ^ WD Webster (1981): Tooth replacement patterns in Myotis albescens. Journal of Mammalogy 62. pp. 422-423.
- ↑ Myotis albescens on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .