Stub thumb
| Stub thumb | ||||||||||||
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Furipterus horrens |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Furipteridae | ||||||||||||
| Gray , 1866 |
The stump thumbs (Furipteridae) are a family from the subordination of the bats (Microchiroptera), where they are counted as part of the superfamily of the rabbit mouth-like (Noctilionoidea). The family comprises two genera, each with one species.
distribution
Stubby thumbs are native to Central and South America, their distribution area extends from Costa Rica to northern Chile and Brazil .
description
These are relatively small bats, they reach a head body length of three to six centimeters and a weight of three to five grams. The name-giving feature is the thumb, which is strongly receded into a stump and hardly protrudes from the skin. Its head is round with a noticeably high forehead, the muzzle is short and appears to be cut off. The ears are large and funnel-shaped, their base is so close to the eyes that these animals look almost eyeless from the front. The snout looks like a pig with the closely spaced, forward or downward nostrils. The tail, which is almost as long as the body, is completely enclosed by the uropatagium (the skin between the legs), the legs are relatively long, but the feet are small. The coarse-looking fur of these animals is gray or gray-brown in color.
Way of life
Caves, hollow tree trunks and man-made dwellings such as old buildings and mines serve as resting places. They prefer areas near water. They spend the day sleeping in larger groups of 100 to 300 animals, which are often divided into smaller subgroups (4 to 30 animals). At night they search for food, with the help of echolocation they look for butterflies, their main food.
The species
- The common stump thumb ( Furipterus horrens ) is the smaller of the two species and is common from Costa Rica to Brazil. Its habitat are predominantly moist forests.
- The rocky coast stump thumb ( Amorphochilus schnablii ) is common on the South American Pacific coast (from Ecuador to northern Chile) and is the larger of the two species. The species also differs from Furipterus horrens by the wart-like appendages on the snout. According to the IUCN, it is considered endangered.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0801857899
