''Anoura peruana'' is a species of bat from

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. It was elevated to a species in 2010, after previously being considered a subspecies of

Geoffroy's tailless bat Geoffroy's tailless bat (''Anoura geoffroyi'') is a species of phyllostomid bat from the American tropics. Description Geoffroy's tailless bat is a medium-sized bat, measuring around in total length and weighing . It has dark to dull brown fur ...

(''A. geoffroyi''). The females are larger than the males.

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1844 by Swiss naturalist

Johann Jakob von Tschudi Johann Jakob von Tschudi (25 July 1818 – 8 October 1889) was a Switzerland, Swiss naturalist, explorer, and diplomat. He is known for his travels in South America, his scientific contributions to zoology and anthropology, and his diplomatic se ...

. Tschudi initially placed it in the genus ''

Glossophaga ''Glossophaga'' (long-tongued bat) is a genus of bats in the leaf-nosed bat family, Phyllostomidae. Members of the genus are native to the American Neotropics. Species *''G. antillarum'' (Rehn, 1902): Jamaican long-tongued bat, Jamaica. *''G ...

'' and the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

''Choeronycteris'', with a scientific name of ''Glossophaga (Choeronycteris) peruana''. Beginning in 1878 at latest, it was published as

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

with

. In 2010, however, researchers concluded that ''A. peruana'' was morphologically distinct enough to be considered a full species. Its

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

"''peruana''" means "Peruvian."

Description

Several characters were used to differentiate ''A. peruana'' from Geoffroy's tailless bat. ''A. peruana'' has a larger skull; its

zygomatic arch In anatomy, the zygomatic arch (colloquially known as the cheek bone), is a part of the skull formed by the zygomatic process of temporal bone, zygomatic process of the temporal bone (a bone extending forward from the side of the skull, over the ...

es are incomplete; its

uropatagium The patagium (: patagia) is a membranous body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift when gliding or flying. The structure is found in extant and extinct groups of flying and gliding animals including bats, theropod dinosaurs (including b ...

is smaller; and its fur is darker.

Biology and ecology

It is a nectarivorous species of bat. Species of flowers that it visits includes '' Siphocampylus giganteus'', ''

Bomarea multiflora ''Bomarea multiflora'', the trailing lily, is a species of flowering plant in the alstroemeria family. It is a multi-stemmed vine native to Colombia and Ecuador. It is an invasive plant species in New Zealand and is listed on the National Pest ...

'', ''

Leonotis nepetifolia ''Leonotis nepetifolia'', (also known as klip dagga, Christmas candlestick, or lion's ear), is a species of plant in the genus ''Leonotis'' and the family Lamiaceae (mint), It is native to tropical Africa. It can also be found growing abundantly ...

'', and '' Lamourouxia virgata''. It could be an important pollen disperser in its ecosystem, as large amounts of pollen have been detected on individuals.

Range and habitat

It is found in several countries in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, including

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, and

. It is found at mid- to high-elevation regions of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q42266333 Anoura Bats of South America Mammals of Colombia Mammals of Peru Mammals described in 2010