The New World leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) are found from southern North America to South America, specifically from the Southwest United States to northern Argentina. They are ecologically the most varied and diverse family within the order Chiroptera. Most species are insectivorous, but the phyllostomid bats include within their number true predatory species and frugivores. For example, the spectral bat, the largest bat in the Americas, eats vertebrate prey, including small, dove-sized birds. Members of this family have evolved to use food groups such as fruit, nectar, pollen, insects, frogs, other bats, and small vertebrates, and in the case of the vampire bats, even blood.
The Egyptian fruit bat or Egyptian rousette is a species of megabat that is found in Africa, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and the Indian subcontinent. It is one of three Rousettus species with an African-Malagasy range, though the only species of its genus found on continental Africa. The common ancestor of the three species colonized the region in the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene. The species is traditionally divided into six subspecies. It is considered a medium-sized megabat, with adults weighing 80–170 g (2.8–6.0 oz) and possessing wingspans of approximately 60 cm (24 in). Individuals are dark brown or grayish brown, with their undersides paler than their backs.
The Puerto Rican tanager is a small passerine bird endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico. It is the only member of the genus Nesospingus and has historically been placed in the tanager family, but recent studies indicate it as either belonging in its own family Nesospingidae or as being a member of Phaenicophilidae. Its closest relatives are likely the spindalises. The Puerto Rican tanager is known to locals as llorosa, which means 'cryer'.
The fauna of Puerto Rico is similar to other island archipelago faunas, with high endemism, and low, skewed taxonomic diversity. Bats are the only extant native terrestrial mammals in Puerto Rico. All other terrestrial mammals in the area were introduced by humans, and include species such as cats, goats, sheep, the small Indian mongoose, and escaped monkeys. Marine mammals include dolphins, manatees, and whales. Of the 349 bird species, about 120 breed in the archipelago, and 47.5% are accidental or rare.
The Puerto Rican bullfinch is a small bullfinch tanager endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico. The species can be commonly found in heavy forests throughout Puerto Rico, except on the easternmost tip of the island. It consumes seeds, fruits, insects, and spiders. The nest is spherical, with an entrance on the side. Typically three light green eggs are laid.
The Hans Lollik Islands are two privately-owned islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands owned by Larry Page. Page purchased Hans Lollik and its smaller neighboring island, Little Hans Lollik, in 2014 for $23 million.
The pearly-eyed thrasher is a bird in the thrasher family Mimidae. It is found on many Caribbean islands, from the Bahamas in the north to the Grenadines in the south, with an isolated subspecies on Bonaire.
The Antillean crested hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. Found across Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, north-east Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Lesser Antilles, while it has also been recorded as a vagrant in Florida, USA.
Brachyphylla is a genus of leaf-nosed bats in the family Phyllostomidae. Both species live on islands near or in the Caribbean. The genus contains the following species:
The buffy flower bat is a species of bat in the leaf-nosed bat family, Phyllostomidae. It is found in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, and Jamaica.
The insular single leaf bat or Lesser Antillean long-tongued bat is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is found on the Lesser Antilles, on Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Leach's single leaf bat, also known as Greater Antillean long-tongued bat, is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is found in the southern Bahamas and in all the Greater Antilles. It forms large colonies, with up to a few hundred thousand individuals, and feeds on a relatively wide variety of food items including pollen, nectar, fruit and insects.
The red fruit bat or red fig-eating bat is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae, in the monotypic genus Stenoderma. It is found in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Roystonea borinquena, commonly called the Puerto Rico royal palm, is a species of palm which is native to Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The fauna of the United States Virgin Islands consists of 144 species of birds, 22 species of mammals, 302 species of fish and 7 species of amphibians. The wildlife of the U.S.V.I. includes numerous endemic species of tropical birds, fish, and land reptiles as well as sea mammals. The only endemic land mammals are six species of native bats: the greater bulldog bat, Antillean fruit-eating bat, red fruit bat, Brazilian free-tailed bat, velvety free-tailed bat and the Jamaican fruit bat. Some of the nonnative land mammals roaming the islands are the white-tailed deer, small Asian mongoose, goats, feral donkeys, rats, mice, sheep, hogs, dogs and cats.
Artibeus schwartzi, or Schwartz's fruit-eating bat, is a species of bat found in the Lesser Antilles. It was previously considered a subspecies of the Jamaican fruit bat,. It has been hypothesized that it arose from hybridization of three Artibeus species: A. jamaicensis, A. planirostris, and an unknown third species.
