Behn's bat, Behn's big-eared bat, or Behn's graybeard bat (''Glyphonycteris behnii'') is a species of

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

in the family Phyllostomidae found in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

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 is known only from six specimens and is considered rare. It feeds on insects and small fruits.

Taxonomy and etymology

Behn's bat was described in 1865 by German naturalist

Wilhelm Peters Wilhelm Karl Hartwich (or Hartwig) Peters (22 April 1815 – 20 April 1883) was a German natural history, naturalist and explorer. He was assistant to the anatomist Johannes Peter Müller and later became curator of the Natural History Museum, ...

. Peters placed it in the now-defunct genus ''Schizostoma'' with a scientific name of ''Schizostoma behnii''. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

was collected in

Cuiabá Cuiabá () is the capital city and the largest city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. It is located near the geographical centre of South America and also forms the metropolitan area of Mato Grosso, along with the neighbouring town of Várz ...

, Brazil. In 1898, Gerrit Smith Miller Jr. reclassified it, placing it in the genus ''

Micronycteris ''Micronycteris'' is a genus of leaf-nosed bat The New World leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) are bats (order Chiroptera) found from southern North America to South America, specifically from the Southwest United States to northern Argentina. ...

''. In 1906, Knud Andersen placed it in ''Glyphonycteris'' but spelled the

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 ...

as ''behni''. The

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

for the species name "''behnii''" is German zoologist Wilhelm Friedrich Georg Behn.

Description

Its forearm length is . The lancet of its

nose-leaf A nose-leaf, or leaf nose, is an often large, lance-shaped nose, found in bats of the Phyllostomidae, Hipposideridae, and Rhinolophidae families. Because these bats Animal echolocation, echolocate nasally, this nose-leaf is thought to serve a role ...

is about 1.5 times longer than it is wide.

Biology and ecology

Based on the diets of closely related species, Behn's bat is likely

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

, consuming

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and small fruits.

Range and habitat

Behn's bat is native to

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 ...

, where it is found in

and

. In Brazil, it is found in the

Cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

Conservation

As of 2016, it is evaluated as a

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

species by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

because only six individuals have ever been documented. Little is known about its population size, ecology, or potential threats. However, it is potentially threatened by habitat loss due to conversion to farmland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1832524 Glyphonycteris Mammals described in 1865 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters Bats of South America