Sooty mustache bat
| Sooty mustache bat | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Pteronotus quadridens | ||||||||||||
| ( Gundlach , 1840) |
The sooty whiskered bat ( Pteronotus quadridens ) is a species of bat from the chin-leaf bat family (Mormoopidae), which is native to the Greater Antilles .
description
The sooty whiskered bat is the smallest species of the genus Pteronotus with a forearm length of less than 41 mm and a weight of 3 to 6 g . The fur is usually grayish to yellowish brown, although some individuals can also have an orange tinge. The individual hairs are three-colored on the back with a dark base and tip and a light central part. On the belly, the hair is two-tone with a dark base and a gray-white tip. As with other representatives of the genus Pteronotus , the nose is covered with folds of skin. The ears are relatively long, narrow and pointed. The tragus is narrow and fringed with bristle-like, short and a few long hairs. The calcar is long and thin, the skin ends at the ankles.
Way of life
The sooty whiskered bat is one of the most common species of bat in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Together with Phyllonycteris poeyi , the species inhabits warm caves and forms colonies with up to 140,000 individuals. The temperature can reach 40 ° C and the humidity 99%. The species is much rarer in Jamaica and has only been observed in one of 13 caves in a colony of fewer than 1,000 animals.
Other species of bats found in the same burrows as Pteronotus quadridens include Brachyphylla nana , B. cavernarum , Erophylla sezekorni , Monophyllus redmani , Mormoops blainvillii , Pteronotus parnellii, and P. macleayii .
The sooty whiskered bat is one of the bat species that is the earliest to leave the cave to look for food. This usually happens shortly before sunset, which is why the species is particularly prey to predators such as the great sparver ( Falco sparverius ), the red-tailed buzzard ( Buteo jamaicensis ) and the merlin ( Falco columbarius ). In addition to birds of prey, domestic cats and snakes such as the Puerto Rico boa ( Epicrates inornatus ) and the Cuban slender boa ( E. angulifer ) are also predators.
The sooty whiskered bat feeds on insects, mostly beetles , which it prey on in flight. In one night, a bat of this species consumes about 1.25 g of food, which is about a quarter of its body weight. The females are mono-estrous . Each year they give birth to a single young animal; Twins are very rare. The mating probably takes place in January, pregnant females are found between February and June. The newborns weigh 1.8 g, which is almost a third of the adult weight. The flightless young animals are not carried around by the mother during foraging flights, but remain in dense groups of 50 to 200 animals in the cave.
distribution and habitat
The sooty whiskered bat occurs in Cuba , Hispaniola , Jamaica , as well as in Puerto Rico . The species is classified by the IUCN as 
(= least concern - not endangered).
literature
- A. Rodríguez-Durán and TH Kunz (1992): Pteronotus quadridens . In: Mammalian Species , No. 395, pp. 244-250
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gannon, MR, Kurta, A., Rodriguez-Duran, A. and Willig, MR (2005): Bats of Puerto Rico. Texas Tech University Press
- ↑ Pteronotus quadridens in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .