The western round-eared bat (''Lophostoma occidentale'') is a

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 ...

species found only on the Pacific coast of northwestern

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 ...

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new subspecies of the white-throated round-eared bat in 1978 by Davis and Carter. As the white-throated round-eared bat was in the genus ''

Tonatia ''Tonatia'' is a small genus of South and Central American phyllostomid bats. Species :Greater round-eared bat The greater round-eared bat (''Tonatia bidens'') is a bat species found in northeastern and southern Brazil, northern Argentina, Pa ...

'' at the time, the western round-eared bat had a

trinomen In biology, trinomial nomenclature is the system of names for taxa below the rank of species. These names have three parts. The usage is different in zoology and botany. In zoology In zoological nomenclature, a trinomen (), trinominal name, or ...

of ''Tonatia silvicola occidentalis''. In 2011, it was recognized as a full species. In the same publication, it was established that ''Lophostoma aequatorialis'' was a

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of ''L. occidentale''. 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 ...

"'' occidentalis''" is

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 ...

for "western."

Description

Its forearm length is . Its dorsal fur is long and dark brown, while the fur around its throat is whitish. It has white or pale gray patches of fur behind its ears.

Range and status

It is 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 ...

, where its range includes

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 has been documented at elevations of . As of 2016, it was evaluated as a

near-threatened species 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

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 population has likely declined by 20-25% in the last three generations due to

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

References

External links

Image of an adult female from Velazco & Cadenillas 2011
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2203239 Lophostoma Bats of South America Endemic fauna of Ecuador Mammals of Ecuador Mammals described in 1978