| Carolliinae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Silky short-tailed bat (Carollia brevicauda) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Phyllostomidae |
| Subfamily: | Carolliinae Miller, 1924 |
| Genera | |
Carollia - short-tailed bats | |
Subfamily Carolliinae
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 dwarf little fruit bat is a species of leaf-nosed bat from South America.
Carollia is a genus of bats often referred to as the short-tailed fruit bats. Along with the genus Rhinophylla, Carollia makes up the subfamily Carolliinae of family Phyllostomidae, the leaf-nosed bats. Currently, nine species of Carollia are recognized, with a number having been described since 2002. Members of this genus are found throughout tropical regions of Central and South America but do not occur on Caribbean islands other than Trinidad and Tobago. Bats of the genus Carollia often are among the most abundant mammals in neotropical ecosystems and play important roles as seed dispersers, particularly of pioneer plants such as those of the genera Piper, Cecropia, Solanum, and Vismia. Carollia are primarily frugivorous; however, C. perspicillata, C. castanea, and C. subrufa are known to feed on insects.
Benkeith's short-tailed bat is a leaf-nosed bat species found in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. It very closely resembles the chestnut short-tailed bat, and the two species are likely often confused.
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