Sword noses
| Sword noses | ||||||||||||
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Sword Nose Head ( Lonchorhina aurita ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lonchorhina | ||||||||||||
| Tomes , 1863 |
The sword noses ( Lonchorhina ) are a bat genus from the subfamily of the lance noses (Phyllostominae) with five species. They are common in Central and South America , from Mexico to Southeast Brazil .
Sword noses get their name from their greatly elongated nasal blade, the tip of which can be higher than the skull. The ears are also large and pointed. These adjustments are used to send and receive ultrasound sounds that they can use to orient themselves and locate prey. The fur of these animals is usually red-brown in color. With a head body length of 51 to 74 millimeters and a weight of 9 to 14 grams, they are among the smaller representatives of the lance noses.
Sword noses inhabit a wide variety of habitats, they live both in the rainforest and in dry savannas. They are nocturnal and sleep in groups of up to 500 animals in caves or crevices during the day. They often share their roosts with other bat species, for example with the short-tailed leaf noses. Only when it is completely dark do they leave their hiding places to hunt prey. Swordnoses feed almost exclusively on insects and spiders. The reproduction is seasonally controlled, mostly in the rainy season a single young is born.
There are five types:
- The real sword nose ( Lonchorhina aurita ) is widespread from Mexico to Bolivia and southern Brazil .
- Lonchorhina orinocensis lives in Southeast Colombia and South Venezuela .
- Lonchorhina fernandezi is only known from southern Venezuela.
- Lonchorhina marinkellei iswidespreadfrom Colombia to French Guiana .
- Lonchorhina inusitata lives in northeastern South America and was only described as a species in 1997.
The sword noses are threatened by the destruction of their habitat, the IUCN lists L. fernandezi and L. marinkellei as endangered.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0801857899
