Tree bat | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Chiroptera |
Family: | Phyllostomidae |
Genus: | Ardops Miller, 1906 |
Species: | A. nichollsi |
Binomial name | |
Ardops nichollsi (Thomas, 1891) | |
Subspecies | |
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Tree bat range | |
Synonyms | |
Stenoderma luciae |
The tree bat (Ardops nichollsi) is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae and the only species in the genus Ardops. [2] It is found in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean, in Antigua, [3] Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Saba, Saint Martin, Sint Eustatius, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. [1] [4]
Ardops nichollsi was described by Oldfield Thomas in 1891 as Stenoderma nichollsi, and assigned to Ardops by Gerrit Smith Miller Jr. in 1906. It is the only species in the genus. [4] Several of the subspecies were initially considered full species, but were reconsidered in a 1967 paper by J. Knox Jones and Albert Schwartz which examined newly collected specimens and found little difference in the variation between the named species. [5] The subspecies vary considerably in size but otherwise are very similar. [5] There are five known subspecies:
The genus is approximately 1.8 to 2.0 million years old. [6]
The tree bat has brown fur, with the back varying from Prout's brown to buffy brown and the front "rich brownish, tinged with grayish white". There is a white spot where the wing meets the body, typically more prominent in females than males. [5]
The species is sexually dimorphic, with females larger than the males. The magnitude of the sexual dimorphism varies between the subspecies. [5]
The tree bat, as the name suggests, roosts in trees. Its habitat is typically forest. [6] It is a frugivore. [7]
The tree bat has been featured on the $7.5 stamp of Grenada, [8] and a $4 stamp from Montserrat. [9]
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