Mormoops Blainvillii
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The Antillean ghost-faced bat (''Mormoops blainvillei'') 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
Mormoopidae The family Mormoopidae contains bats known generally as mustached bats, ghost-faced bats, and naked-backed bats. They are found in the Americas from the Southwestern United States to Southeastern Brazil. They are distinguished by the presen ...
. It is found in the
Greater Antilles The Greater Antilles is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, together with Navassa Island and the Cayman Islands. Seven island states share the region of the Greater Antille ...
:
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
,
Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...
(the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
and
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
)
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
, and
Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
.


Description

These bats range in color from a pale cinnamon to a more reddish color, showing darker pigmentation on the
dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage The fus ...
side as opposed to the
ventral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...
. No molting specimens have been observedSilva Taboada, G. 1979. Los Murciélagos de Cuba. Editorial Academia, La Habana, 423 pp. and no geographic variation in color has been studied, observed or documented. Like other species in the ''
Mormoops ''Mormoops'' is a genus of bat in the family Mormoopidae. It contains the following species: * Antillean ghost-faced bat (''Mormoops blainvillii'') * Giant ghost-faced bat (†''Mormoops magna'') * Ghost-faced bat (''Mormoops megalophylla'') R ...
'' genus, the Antillean ghost-faced bat shows elaborate, intricate facial outgrowths and leaflike appendages. The face features nostrils located on a fleshy pad, and coarse bristles protruding from both lips. These features aid in echolocation.Anthony, H. E. 1918. Indigenous land mammals of Porto Rico, living and extinct. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, New Series, 2:394-435.


Fossil record

The fossil record for this species is limited and sparse, but the evidence found indicates a wider range which previously extended to all of the Caribbean islands as well as
the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...
.Koopman, K. F., Hecht, M. K., and Ledecky-Janecek, E. 1957. Notes on the mammals of the Bahamas with special reference to bats. Journal of Mammalogy, 38:164-174.


Ecology

The Antillean ghost-faced bat has been predominantly observed roosting in deeper, more sheltered caves or abandoned mine shafts, as opposed to caves with multiple entrances. Here, it coexists with other bat species. Analysis of stomach contents has shown that these bats feed exclusively on insects, which they catch utilizing a pouch formed by the large leaflike tail membrane. Target prey, mostly moths, are caught in midair.


Behavior

''M. blainvilli'' is a strictly nocturnal species. The onset of activity varies from 22 to 55 minutes after sunset. This late onset has been associated with the peak activity of
lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...
ns, which are their preferred prey. The flight of this bat is faster and higher than that of other bats in its genus, and a distinct humming sound has been correlated with its flight.Goodwin, R. E. 1970. The ecology of Jamaican bats. Journal of Mammalogy, 51:571–579. They are known to use the same biosonar vocalizations as in other echolocating bats. As the bat searches for a target (typically moths), it produces search signals with an average duration of 1.8 ms, which change from a shallow FM-sweep to a steep one. When approaching its target, ''M. blainvilli'' reduces the duration of its vocalizations. In the terminal phase, it produces a higher number of calls which are drastically shorter in duration.Schnitzler, H. U., Kaipf, I. and Mogdans, J. 1991. Comparative studies of echolocation and hunting behavior in the four species of mormoopid bats of Jamaica. Bat research News, 32:22-23. The morphology of ''M. blainvilli'' is similar to '' M. megalophylla'', as the main adaptations by ''Mormoops'' bats are to reduce body weight to increase flying ability. These adaptations include decreased muscular structures, some of which are absent altogether as compared to species of Phyllostomidae. These restrictions result in a decreased range of extension.Vaughn, T. A., and Bateman, G. C. 1970. Functional morphology of the forelimb of mormoopid bats. Journal of Mammalogy, 51:217-235. The
aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...
of the wings of one bat were calculated as 6.23, similar to ''M. megalophylla''.Smith, J. D., and Starrett, A. 1979. Morphometric analysis of chriopteran wings. Pp. 229-316, in Biology of bats of the New World family Phyllostomatidae. Part III (R. J. Baker, J. K. Jones, Jr., and D. C. Carter, eds.). Special Publications, The Museum, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, 441 pp. These characteristics are hypothesized to give the bat an advantage in terms of flight endurance, and have been adapted for its insectivorous diet.


Biology

The mating season begins with copulation spanning from January to February. From March to May, pregnancies occur, and the earliest births occur in June. Weaning is completed from August to September, and in October to December, females are non-responsive to mating. Each reproductive female typically bears one child per year, with twins being reported in only two instances. The thermoneutral zone for ''M. blainvilli'' extends from 31 to 34 °C, and body temperature is maintained between these two temperatures over a wide range of
ambient temperature Room temperature, colloquially, denotes the range of air temperatures most people find comfortable indoors while dressed in typical clothing. Comfortable temperatures can be extended beyond this range depending on humidity, air circulation, and ...
(15–41 °C). However, as ambient temperature decreases below 28 °C, the maintenance of body temperature in individuals is less stable and has been observed in some to decrease below 25 °C. In these low temperatures, bats respond by elevating their
basal metabolic rate Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate of energy expenditure per unit time by endothermic animals at rest.. In other words it is the energy required by body organs to perform normal It is reported in energy units per unit time ranging from watt ( ...
.Rodriguez-Duran, A. 1991. Comparative environmental physiology of bats roosting in hot caves. Ph.D. dissert., Boston University, 125 pp.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antillean Ghost-Faced Bat Mormoops Mammals of Puerto Rico Mammals of the Dominican Republic Mammals of Haiti Mammals described in 1821 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot