The family Mormoopidae contains bats known generally as mustached bats, ghost-faced bats, and naked-backed bats. They are found in the

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from the Southwestern United States to Southeastern

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. They are distinguished by the presence of a leaf-like projection from their lips, instead of the nose-leaf found in many other bat species. In some species, the wing membranes join over the animal's back, making it appear hairless. The tail projects only a short distance beyond the membrane that stretches between the hind legs. They are brownish in colour, with short, dense fur. Their dental formula is: Mormoopid bats roost in caves and tunnels in huge colonies that may include hundreds of thousands of members, producing enough guano to allow commercial mining. They do not hibernate as some other bats do since they live in the

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. They feed on

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 found close to, or on, bodies of water.

Classification

The family consists of two genera, containing around 13 species. FAMILY MORMOOPIDAE *Genus '' Mormoops'' Leach, 1821 **'' Mormoops blainvillii'' (Leach, 1821) – Antillean ghost-faced bat **'' Mormoops magna''† (Silva-Taboada, 1974) – giant ghost-faced bat **'' Mormoops megalophylla'' ( Peters, 1864) – ghost-faced bat *Genus '' Pteronotus'' Gray, 1838 **Subgenus ''Chilonycteris'' Gray, 1839 ***'' Pteronotus macleayii'' (Gray, 1839) – Macleay's mustached bat ***'' Pteronotus personatus'' ( Wagner, 1843) – Wagner's mustached bat ***'' Pteronotus quadridens'' ( Gundlach, 1860) – sooty mustached bat **Subgenus ''Phyllodia'' Gray, 1843 ***'' Pteronotus paraguanensis'' (Linares & Ojasti, 1974) – Paraguana moustached bat ***'' Pteronotus parnellii'' (Gray, 1843) – Parnell's mustached bat ***'' Pteronotus pristinus''† (Silva-Taboada, 1974) – pristine mustached bat **Subgenus ''Pteronotus'' Gray, 1838 ***'' Pteronotus davyi'' (Gray, 1838) – Davy's naked-backed bat ***'' Pteronotus gymnonotus'' ( Natterer, 1843) – big naked-backed bat

References

Bat families Extant Pleistocene first appearances Taxa named by Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure {{bat-stub