Velvety fruit-eating bat | |
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In Puntarenas, Costa Rica | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Chiroptera |
Family: | Phyllostomidae |
Genus: | Enchisthenes K. Andersen, 1906 |
Species: | E. hartii |
Binomial name | |
Enchisthenes hartii (Thomas, 1892) | |
Synonyms | |
Artibeus hartii Thomas, 1892 |
The velvety fruit-eating bat (Enchisthenes hartii), also known as Hart's little fruit bat, is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is the only species within the genus Enchisthenes. It is found in Central America, Mexico, the United States, and northern South America. [1]
It was described as a new species in 1892 by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas. Thomas initially placed it in the genus Artibeus , with the scientific name Artibeus hartii. The eponym for the species name "hartii" is J. H. Hart, who provided the holotype to Thomas. Hart was the superintendent of the Botanic Gardens in Trinidad, which is the type locality. [2]
The genus Enchisthenes was described in 1908 by Danish mammalogist Knud Andersen. He noted that Enchisthenes was closely related to Artibeus, and designated A. hartii as the type species and the only member of the genus. [3] Though the opinion of the taxonomic validity of Enchisthenes has varied since its description, it has most recently been recognized as a valid monotypic genus. [4]
Its fur is nearly black in color, and its face has a few faint lines that are paler in color. It has a forearm length of 36–41 mm (1.4–1.6 in). Individuals weigh 14–18 g (0.49–0.63 oz). Its dental formula is 2.1.2.32.1.2.3 for a total of 32 teeth. [4]
Its range includes Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. There is a single record from the United States state of Arizona. [1]
As of 2008, it is evaluated as a least-concern species by the IUCN. [1]
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 Jamaican, common or Mexican fruit bat is a fruit-eating bat native to Mexico, through Central America to northwestern South America, as well as the Greater and many of the Lesser Antilles. It is also an uncommon resident of the Southern Bahamas. Populations east of the Andes in South America are now usually regarded a separate species, the flat-faced fruit-eating bat. The distinctive features of the Jamaican fruit bat include the absence of an external tail and a minimal, U-shaped interfemoral membrane.
The great fruit-eating bat is a bat species found from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, as well as in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.
Andersen's fruit-eating bat is a bat species found in South America.
Dermanura is a genus of leaf-nosed bats.
The Neotropical fruit bats (Artibeus) are a genus of bats within the subfamily Stenodermatinae. The genus consists of 12 species, which are native to Central and South America, as well as parts of the Caribbean.
The fraternal fruit-eating bat is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae that is found in drier habitats in Ecuador and Peru. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the Jamaican fruit bat, but was raised to species level in 1978. The smallest species in the group of large Artibeus, it has a forearm length of 52–59 mm (2.0–2.3 in), a total length of 64–76 mm (2.5–3.0 in), and a weight of 30–55 g (1.1–1.9 oz).
The Toltec fruit-eating bat is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is also sometimes called the "lowland fruit eating bat."
Stenodermatinae is a large subfamily of bats in the family Phyllostomidae.
Thomas's fruit-eating bat, sometimes also popularly called Watson's fruit-eating bat, is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is found from southern Mexico, through Central America to Colombia. Its South American range is to the west of the Andes. The species name is in honor of H. J. Watson, a plantation owner in western Panama who used to send specimens to the British Natural History Museum, where Oldfield Thomas would often describe them.
Knud Christian Andersen was a Danish zoologist. His research focused on bats.
Artibeus schwartzi 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.
The Bogota fruit-eating bat is a species of bat found in South America.