Veldkamp's miniature flying dog
| Veldkamp's miniature flying dog | ||||||||||||
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Preparation in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden . |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Nanonycteris | ||||||||||||
| Matschie , 1899 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Nanonycteris veldkampii | ||||||||||||
| ( Jentink , 1888) |
The Veldkamps Little Bat ( Nanonycteris veldkampii ) is a small species of flying fox found in the West African rainforest belt from Guinea to the western Central African Republic .
features
Veldkamp's miniature flying dogs are very small and reach a head-to-trunk length of 4.6 to 5.4 cm, a wingspan of 30 to 38 cm and a weight of 16 to 36 g. Males are usually a little smaller than females, but both sexes are colored the same. The animals are colored brown, red-brown, gray-brown or light brown on the back, the belly is much lighter. The fur is dense and soft, the hair on the back is about 6 to 7 mm long. Adult males have a whitish or yellow epaulette on each shoulder. The females have a whitish patch of soft hair there. The skull is short and fragile, the skull clearly separated from the muzzle. The snout is very narrow, tapering to a point and of medium length. The teeth are relatively small, the upper row of teeth is short and does not extend to the lower edge of the eye socket. The lips are easily elongated and more wrinkled in adult males. The eyes are yellow-brown and large, the ears narrow, hairless and dark brown in color. The flight membrane is dark brown. The tail is so short that it is not visible.
| 2 | · | 1 | · | 2 | · | 1 | = 28 |
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Externally, Veldkamp's miniature bat can hardly be distinguished from the Peters small epaulette bat ( Micropteropus pusillus ), which occurs in the same area . The main difference is three, short but thick ridges on the roof of the mouth of Veldkamp's dwarf bat, while there are six ridges on the palate of Peter's small epaulet bat. The latter also has more flexible lips and the muzzle is wider at the tip.
Way of life
The animals live in rainforests, on farmland, in small plantations, in secondary forests, gallery forests , in afromontane forests up to heights of 1200 meters, in regions where small rainforests alternate like a mosaic with savannahs and in mangrove forests . Veldkamp's miniature flying foxes are relatively common, but as a migratory species they can be found in different regions at different times of the year. In the dry season from October to February they live in rainforests and at the beginning of the rainy season from March to April they migrate north into the transition zone from savannah to rainforest and further into the savannah. Many trees bloom during their stay in the savannah, including the African baobab tree , the kapok tree , the liver sausage tree and Parkia biglobosa . The females have a single young animal per birth. Most of the juvenile-bearing females were recorded from November to December (50% of all captured females) and in May (55% of all captured females).
nutrition
Veldkamp's flying fox feeds on fruits, nectar, and pollen. The trees and shrubs whose flowers are sought out to absorb nectar and pollen include the African baobab tree , kapok tree , Eperua falcata , liver sausage tree , Maranthes polyandra , Parkia biglobosa and Protea elliottii . Fruits that are eaten come from the fig species Ficus umbellata , the shea tree , the cola tree Cola cordifolia , the nightshade Solanum erianthum , mangoes , papayas , guavas and bananas .
literature
- Jakob Fahr: Genus Nanonycteris Veldkamp's Epauletted Fruit Bat, page 277–280 in Meredith Happold and David Happold (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume IV. Hedgehogs, Shrews and Bats . Bloomsbury, London, 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2254-9
