The Honduran white bat (''Ectophylla alba''), also called the Caribbean white tent-making bat, 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 Phyllostomatidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Ectophylla''. The genus and the species were both scientifically described for the first time in 1892. It has distinctive, entirely white fur, which is only found in six of the roughly 1,300 known species of bat. It constructs "tents" out of understory plant leaves by strategically cutting the leaf ribs with its teeth; it roosts in these tents during the day. It is a specialist

frugivore A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance ...

, consuming almost exclusively the fruits of one species of

fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and i ...

. Females can likely become pregnant twice per year, giving birth to one offspring at a time. It is found in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and western

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

at elevations from

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

to . Due to habitat loss, it is evaluated as near-threatened 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 ...

. Its bright yellow ears, nose-leaf, and lips are a result of carotenoid deposition; the mechanism of this deposition is being researched as a way to understand and combat

macular degeneration Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred vision, blurred or vision loss, no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no sym ...

in humans.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

The Honduran white bat was described as a new species, ''Ectophylla alba'', in 1892 by American zoologist

Harrison Allen Harrison Allen (April 17, 1841 – November 14, 1897) was an American surgeon, anatomist, Zoology, zoologist, and educator. He served as a surgeon in the United States Army during the American Civil War and at several Philadelphia hospitals inclu ...

. 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 ...

that Allen used to describe the new genus and species was collected by

Charles Haskins Townsend Charles Haskins Townsend (September 29, 1859 – January 28, 1944) was an American zoology, zoologist and naturalist who served as the director of the New York Aquarium, from 1902 to 1937. Early life The son of the Reverend Daniel W. Townsend and ...

near the

Coco River The Wangki river in Miskitu or Río Coco, in Spanish, formerly known as the Río Segovia, Cape River, or Yara River, is a river located on the border of northern Nicaragua and southern Honduras. It is the longest river that runs entirely within t ...

in Honduras in 1887. It belongs to the

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. Both the scientific and common names derive from ...

family, Phyllostomidae. Within Phyllostomidae, it is in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Stenodermatinae Stenodermatinae is a large subfamily of bats in the family Phyllostomidae. List of species Subfamily Stenodermatinae *Genus: '' Ametrida'' ** Little white-shouldered bat, ''Ametrida centurio'' *Genus: '' Ardops'' ** Tree bat, ''Ardops nichollsi ...

. MacConnell's bat was once included in the genus ''Ectophylla'', but it is now

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

within ''Mesophylla''. Despite no longer being classified in the same genus, MacConnell's bat and the Honduran white bat are

sister taxa In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

—they are each other's closest relative. The Honduran white bat is the only member of ''Ectophylla'', meaning it is a monotypic genus. The genus name "''Ectophylla''" is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

"'' ektós''" meaning "out" and "'' phúllon''" meaning "leaf", referring to 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 ...

. 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 ...

"''alba''" comes from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

"'' albus''" meaning "white".

Description

Like both its common name and specific epithet suggest, the Honduran white bat has bright white fur. The tips of individual hairs are gray, with the grayish coloration more pronounced towards the bat's posterior. This species, along with four ''

Diclidurus ''Diclidurus'' is a genus of bats whose common name is the ghost bats (not to be confused with the Australia ''Macroderma gigas''). ''Diclidurus'' all inhabit tropical South America, and ''D. albus'' is also found in Mexico and Central America.Em ...

'' species and the

ghost bat The ghost bat (''Macroderma gigas'') is a species of bat found in northern Australia. The species is the only Australian bat that preys on large vertebrates – birds, reptiles and other mammals – which they detect using acute sight and heari ...

(''Macroderma gigas''), is among the only currently known species of bat—more than 1,300 species have been described—where the pelage is all white. Its large nose-leaf easily distinguishes it from the

northern ghost bat The northern ghost bat (''Diclidurus albus'') is a bat species from South America, Trinidad, and Central America. It is a relatively rare, completely white, insectivorous bat, with an unusual sac at the base of its tail. Description The northern ...

(''Diclidurus albus''), however, which is the only white bat with which it is

sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

(having an overlapping geographic range). Its wing membranes are black. Its ears, tragi (the cartilaginous projections in front of the ear openings), nose-leaf, and lips are a bright, yellowish orange. Its yellow-orange pigmentation is due to large concentrations of

carotenoid Carotenoids () are yellow, orange, and red organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, archaea, and fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpkins, carrots, parsnips, corn, tomatoes, cana ...

s, particularly

xanthophyll Xanthophylls (originally phylloxanthins) are yellow pigments that occur widely in nature and form one of two major divisions of the carotenoid group; the other division is formed by the carotenes. The name is from Greek: (), meaning "yellow", an ...

. It is the first mammal known to have enough carotenoids in its skin to generate conspicuous color. A 2019 study found that while the brightness of the yellow pigment of the ears did not vary significantly between adults and juveniles, the yellow chroma (

colorfulness Colorfulness, chroma and saturation are attributes of perceived color relating to chromatic intensity. As defined formally by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) they respectively describe three different aspects of chromatic ...

relative to

brightness Brightness is an attribute of visual perception in which a source appears to be radiating/reflecting light. In other words, brightness is the perception dictated by the luminance of a visual target. The perception is not linear to luminance, and ...

) of the ears did differ with age. Adult bats had higher yellow chroma in their ears than did juveniles. The yellow of the nose-leaf, however, had more variation. Adult males' nose-leaves are a brighter yellow than those of adult females; juveniles of each sex did not differ in nose-leaf brightness. Adult males also had significantly brighter nose-leaves than juvenile males. Similarly to the ears, the yellow chroma of the nose-leaf was greater in adults than in juveniles, though not different between the sexes. The authors suggested that the color difference of male and female nose-leaves is indicative of

sexual dichromatism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecious species, which consis ...

, meaning that females may select for males with brighter nose-leaves. This conclusion was supported by the trend that males with brighter yellow nose-leaves tended to have better body conditions. Females could thus use nose-leaf color as an

honest signal Within evolutionary biology, signalling theory is a body of theoretical work examining communication between individuals, both within species and across species. The central question is how organisms with conflicting interests, such as in se ...

of male fitness when selecting a mate. Another 2019 study found that the distinctive yellow pigment may have been selected for as a result of the bat's tent-roosting. Reconstructions of ancestral states showed that the yellow coloration coevolved with tent-roosting. As sunlight passes through the green leaves of the tents, it results in a yellowish light; any bats with yellowish coloration would have had more effective

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

, and thus be more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass on these genes to their offspring. It is a small species, with a head and body length of , a forearm length of , and an ear length of . Individuals weigh only . The bat's nose-leaf is erect, its tail is absent, and its ears large and rounded. The inner margin of the tragus is convex, while the outer margin is coarsely serrated with four or five small lobes. The nose-leaf also has a serrated margin. It has eight to ten small "warts" under its mouth. Its

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiology ...

is , for a total of 28 teeth. Its skull is similar in appearance to other species in its subfamily, with the exception of its very deep basioccipital pits. The bat overall resembles a small, white ''

Platyrrhinus ''Platyrrhinus'' is a genus of leaf-nosed bats in the tribe Stenodermatini of family Phyllostomidae. Twenty-one species are known: * Alberico's broad-nosed bat, ''Platyrrhinus albericoi'' * Slender broad-nosed bat, ''Platyrrhinus angustirostr ...

''.

Biology and ecology

Tent-making

The Honduran white bat is one of approximately 22 known species of bats that roost within leaf "tents". The Honduran white bat cuts the side veins extending out from the midrib of the large leaves of the ''

Heliconia ''Heliconia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku (province), ...

'' plant causing them to fold down to form a tent. Tents are likely constructed by multiple individuals; females have been observed constructing tents, but it is likely that males do so as well. New tents are constructed throughout the year, as modifying the leaves into tents causes the leaves to die. Once modified into a tent, a leaf lives approximately 7.5 weeks, compared to 61 weeks in an unmodified leaf. Several species of ''Heliconia'' are used as roosts, including '' H. imbricata'', '' H. latispatha'', '' H. pogonantha'', '' H. tortuosa'', and '' H. sarapiquensis''. Rarely, it has been documented using ''

Calathea ''Calathea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Marantaceae. They are commonly called calatheas or (like their relatives) prayer plants. About 200 species formerly assigned to ''Calathea'' are now in the genus '' Goeppertia''. ...

'' and '' Ischnosiphon inflatus'' plants as roosts. In selecting leaves to turn into tents, it appears that the age and size of the leaf is more important than the species of plant. Preferred leaves are long and less than 30 days old. Younger leaves may be preferred because they are easier to bite through and shape than older leaves. It also prefers leaves that are less than above the forest floor. Preferred leaves are in areas of low understory vegetation density, but high canopy vegetation density. ''Heliconia'' density is lower surrounding chosen leaves than would be expected if the bats selected leaves randomly. Features such as canopy density may help the tent maintain a consistent

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often slightly but sometimes substantially. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square m ...

. Tents are usually , with little fluctuation. High canopy density could also protect its tent from disturbance from wind and rain. Because tent construction takes up to several weeks' worth of time from several individuals, choosing more sheltered tents could prolong the life of a tent and protect the bats' investment. Low understory vegetation density is thought to be beneficial by providing an uncluttered airspace for the bats as they exit and enter their tents. It clings to the roof of its tent in small

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

of 1-15 individuals. The tent protects it from rain and predators. Rather than roosting in a single tent consistently, the Honduran white bat has a network of tents scattered across the forest; it alternates among these tents for roosting. Single tents have been consistently occupied for up to 45 days. Although their tents are typically low to the ground, sunlight filters through the leaf which gives their white fur a greenish cast. This almost completely conceals them if they remain still. Alternately, it has been proposed that its white fur gives it the appearance of a wasp nest, which would be avoided by predators. It likely has several predators, including

capuchin monkey The capuchin monkeys () are New World monkeys of the subfamily Cebinae. They are readily identified as the "Street organ, organ grinder" monkey, and have been used in many movies and television shows. The range of capuchin monkeys includes some t ...

Central American squirrel monkey The Central American squirrel monkey (''Saimiri oerstedii''), also known as the red-backed squirrel monkey, is a squirrel monkey species from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Panama. It is restricted to the northwestern tip of Panama near the ...

s, and snakes.

Diet and foraging

The Honduran white bat is

frugivorous A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance ...

. Along with the little white-shouldered bat, the Honduran white bat is one of the two smallest species of frugivorous bat in the world. It specializes on a species of

, '' Ficus colubrinae''. However, other species of figs are occasionally consumed, such as ''

Ficus schippii ''Ficus schippii'' is a species of plant in the family Moraceae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, 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, i ...

''. The Honduran white bat prefers ''F. colubrinae'' trees that are "high-quality," or produce many fruits at once. It also chooses fig trees that are the closest to its day roosts. ''F. colubrinae'' trees have asynchronous fruit production, so its fruits are available as a food source year-round. Because it is highly specialized on the one species of fig, it has larger foraging movements than observed in frugivorous bats that are less specialized. Individuals have an average

home range A home range is the area in which an animal lives and moves on a periodic basis. It is related to the concept of an animal's territory which is the area that is actively defended. The concept of a home range was introduced by W. H. Burt in 1943. ...

of . It is unclear how it manages to survive on such a narrow diet, as it is predicted it should have to consume supplemental food sources.

Reproduction

Little is known about the Honduran white bat's reproductive behaviors. It has been proposed that individuals give birth in April and September, and that

estrus The estrous cycle (, originally ) is a set of recurring physiological changes induced by reproductive hormones in females of mammalian subclass Theria. Estrous cycles start after sexual maturity in females and are interrupted by anestrous phas ...

occurs post-parturition. Pregnant females have been documented in February, March, June, July, and August in Costa Rica, with lactating females documented in March and April. Females have synchronized births, with all births in a colony occurring within the same week. Litter size is one offspring, called a pup. During

lactation Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all sexually mature female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The process ...

, mothers will return to their roosts up to six times a night to feed their pups. Pups

fledge Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between egg, hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnera ...

, or become capable of flight, at 3–4 weeks old.

Range and habitat

The Honduran white bat is found in several countries in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, including

, and

. Unusually, it is one of only four species of

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Central America; most leaf-nosed bats are found 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 ...

. Its range spans elevations from above sea level. It prefers wet evergreen forests and secondary forests that can support its specific roosting and dietary needs.

Conservation

Despite being a conspicuously colored bat, over sixty years passed between the discovery of the first Honduran white bat in 1898 and the next discovery in 1963. It is currently evaluated as

near-threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qu ...

by the

. It meets the criteria for this designation because its population is in a "significant decline." The decline does not exceed 30% population loss over the past three generations (approximately 18 years in this species), which would qualify it for vulnerable designation. However, it is on the verge of qualifying for the vulnerable designation. Reasons for its population decline include conversion of its habitat to farmland as well as an

expanding human population Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annua ...

. It is particularly susceptible to habitat loss because it is highly specialized on a single species of fig for its food source.

Human health applications

In 2016, it was discovered that the Honduran white bat uses carotenoids to produce the yellow-orange coloration of its ears, nose-leaf, and lips. It was the first mammalian species to be documented with high enough concentrations of carotenoids to produce visible skin coloration. It isolates the pigments from its diet, particularly the fruits of the '' Ficus colubrinae'' tree.

Lutein Lutein (;"Lutein"

ester In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an acid (either organic or inorganic) in which the hydrogen atom (H) of at least one acidic hydroxyl group () of that acid is replaced by an organyl group (R). These compounds contain a distin ...

ified form, while in its free form in the liver. This suggests that Honduran white bats possess a physiological mechanism to convert free lutein to esterified lutein, which humans are unable to do. Lutein plays an important role in the eyes by preventing damage to the

retina The retina (; or retinas) is the innermost, photosensitivity, light-sensitive layer of tissue (biology), tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some Mollusca, molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focus (optics), focused two-dimensional ...

; it is hypothesized that if the free lutein in human eyes was esterified, it would be more effective at preventing damage and preserving vision. Understanding the process by which Honduran white bats convert free lutein to esterified lutein could assist in the understanding of how the stability and

bioavailability In pharmacology, bioavailability is a subcategory of absorption and is the fraction (%) of an administered drug that reaches the systemic circulation. By definition, when a medication is administered intravenously, its bioavailability is 100%. H ...

of carotenoids benefit human health. In particular, the species may have research applications for understanding and treating

in humans.

References

External links

A video of a Honduran white bat foraging for figs at night
{{Taxonbar, from=Q301286 Bats of Central America Mammals described in 1892 Phyllostomidae Taxa named by Harrison Allen