''Carollia'' is a genus 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 ...

s 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 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 ...

but do not occur on

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

islands other than

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

. Bats of the genus ''Carollia'' often are among the most abundant mammals in

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

s and play important roles as seed dispersers, particularly of pioneer plants such as those of the genera '' Piper'', '' Cecropia'', ''

Solanum ''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solana ...

'', and '' Vismia''. ''Carollia'' are primarily frugivorous; however, ''C. perspicillata'', ''C. castanea'', and ''C. subrufa'' are known to feed on insects. Genus ''Carollia'' – short-tailed leaf-nosed bats * Benkeith's short-tailed bat, ''C. benkeithi'' * Silky short-tailed bat, ''C. brevicauda'' * Chestnut short-tailed bat, ''C. castanea'' * Manu short-tailed bat, ''C. manu'' * Mono's short-tailed bat, ''C. monohernandezi'' * Seba's short-tailed bat, ''C. perspicillata'' *

Sowell's short-tailed bat Sowell's short-tailed bat (''Carollia sowelli'') is a common bat species in the family Phyllostomidae. It is found from San Luis Potosi (Mexico) through Central America to west Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a count ...

, ''C. sowelli'' * Gray short-tailed bat, ''C. subrufa''

Vocal Diversity

There is evidence that there are distinct differences in vocal behaviour during physical interference interactions at the perch between sympatrically living, closely related species of ''Carollia''. This diversity of vocal behaviour may arise from different ecological pressures during

allopatric Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

speciation, and may also be an indicator of differences in species social organisation.

References

Bat genera Taxa named by John Edward Gray {{leafnosed-bat-stub