Round blade noses

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Round blade noses
Hipposideros cervinus, drawing from John Gould, FRS, Mammals of Australia, Vol. III Plate 34, London, 1863.

Hipposideros cervinus , drawing from John Gould, FRS, Mammals of Australia, Vol. III Plate 34, London, 1863.

Systematics
Subclass : Higher mammals (Eutheria)
Superordinate : Laurasiatheria
Order : Bats (chiroptera)
Subordination : Yinpterochiroptera
Superfamily : Horseshoe bat (Rhinolophoidea)
Family : Round blade noses
Scientific name
Hipposideridae
Lydekker , 1891

The round-leaf noses (Hipposideridae) are a bat family . They are closely related to the horseshoe bat (Rhinolophidae) and are sometimes classified as their subfamily (Hipposiderinae). The family includes around 80 species in six genera.

distribution

Round-leaf noses are common in the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa , Asia and Australia as well as in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands .

description

These bats are mainly characterized by the shape of their snout. The nasal blade consists of a horseshoe-shaped arch in front and an erect leaf behind it, which in many species is divided into three parts and is reminiscent of a trident. As with most bats, which send out ultrasonic calls through the nose, this structure is used to transmit or amplify the ultrasonic sounds that they need for echolocation . In many species, the males have a sac-shaped gland behind the nasal sheet that secretes a waxy secretion. The ears have no tragus . The color of the fur varies from reddish-orange to brown to gray-black, in some species the sexes differ in terms of fur color or the shape of the nasal blade. Round-leaf noses reach a head body length of 28 to 110 millimeters and a weight of three to 110 grams.

Way of life

Caves, crevices, buildings, tree hollows or burrows of other animals, for example porcupines, serve as sleeping places. Some species are known to hibernate; many species in large groups, others in small family groups or alone. Like most bats, they are nocturnal, in the evening they leave their roosts to look for food alone or in small groups. Their diet consists almost exclusively of insects that they prey on in flight. They often fly close to the ground and consume animals living on the ground such as beetles , termites and cockroaches .

Little is known about the reproduction of many species. Usually a single young is born once or twice a year. In many species a delayed growth of the embryo can be observed: the gestation period is 70 to 100 days, but the interval between mating and birth is often twice as long. Young animals are suckled for around 40 to 80 days.

threat

The loss of habitat through the conversion of their residential areas into agricultural areas or settlements poses a threat to many species. Three species are listed as severely threatened by the IUCN : Hipposideros lamottei from West Africa, Hipposideros nequam from Malaysia and Paracoelops megalotis , of which only one only specimen was found. Some other species are threatened or endangered, but precise data are not available for many species.

Genera

  • The only species of the genus Anthops , the flower-nosed bat ( A. ornatus ), is only known from the Solomon Islands . Her nose leaf, divided by many folds, which is supposed to be reminiscent of a flower, is striking.
  • The genus of the trident leaf noses ( Asellia ) includes four species that are distributed in northern Africa and Asia to Pakistan . They are among the bats best adapted to arid desert regions. The back part of their nasal blade has a pronounced trident shape.
  • The three species of the genus Aselliscus live from Southeast Asia (from South China via Vietnam and Myanmar ) to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. They are among the smallest members of their family.
  • The genus Tailless Leaf Noses ( Coelops ) includes two or three species, whose home is Southeast Asia (from eastern India and southern China to the Philippines and Bali ). They are tailless animals with a brown to blackish fur and short, round ears.
  • With over 70 species, the Altwelt-Rundblattnasen ( Hipposideros ) are the most species-rich genus. These animals live in Africa, the southern parts of Asia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia . Their fur is usually reddish or brownish in color. The species in this genus include:
  • The Vietnamese round-leaf nose ( Paracoelops megalotis ) was only known from one specimen found in Vietnam in 1947 . In 2012, the damaged specimen was examined again and, due to the similarity of the features, was synonymous with the Pomona round-leaf nose ( Hipposideros pomona ) .

The genera Dreizahnblattnasen ( Triaenops ), Cloeotis , Paratriaenops and Rhinonicteris , which also belonged to the round-leaf noses until 2015, were placed in the family Rhinonycteridae in 2015 . Round-leaf noses and Rhinonycteridae both originated in Africa but separated into two independently developing lines about 39 million years ago.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Vu Dinh Thong, Christian Dietz, Annette Denzinger, Paul JJ Bates, Sebastien J. Puechmaille, Cécile Callou & Hans-Ulrich Schnitzler: Resolving a mammal mystery: the identity of Paracoelops megalotis (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae). Zootaxa, 3505, pp. 75-85, 2012
  2. ↑ Nicole M. Foley, Vu Dinh Thong, Pipat Soisook, Steven M. Goodman, Kyle N. Armstrong, David S. Jacobs, Sébastien J. Puechmaille, Emma C. Teeling. 2015. How and Why Overcome the Impediments to Resolution: Lessons from rhinolophid and hipposiderid Bats. Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 32, Issue 2, February 1, 2015, Pages 313–333, doi: 10.1093 / molbev / msu329

Web links

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