The sooty mustached bat (''Pteronotus quadridens'') 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 throughout 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 ...

, in

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

The sooty mustached bat is the smallest species in the genus ''

Pteronotus ''Pteronotus'' is a genus of bats. Eight extant species have been recognized, as well as one relatively recently extinct species. References

* Gutierrez, E.E. & Molinari, J. 2008. Morphometrics and taxonomy of bats of the genus ''Pteronotu ...

''. Color phases in this bat are indicators of age differences or bleaching due to high concentrations of ammonia in the roost. As a result, color ranges from grayish brown to yellowish brown with some individuals reaching an orange-brown phase. The body is completely covered in fur except for the wings and tail membrane. The length of mandible is and their forearm is less than in length. The margin above nostril is lobulated and slightly convex.

Mating and reproduction

Sooty mustached bats are monestrous and uniparous most of the time with twinning rarely occurring. Based on the testicular size, mating begins in January and most females are pregnant in May. The pregnant female undergoes an increase in body mass of 38%. The largest embryo reported weighed , or 30.2% of the female's body mass. Throughout the breeding season, either males or females might disappear completely into caves. However, there is a marked shift in adult sex ratio favoring females. This suggests sexual segregation during the maternity period.

Ecology

''Pteronotus quadridens'' roost exclusively in caves. They are one of the most common bats in Cuba and Puerto Rico. All currently known fossils of ''Pteronotus quadridens'' are believed to be from late

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

epochs. The ancestors of ''Pteronotus quadridens'' are also expected to have originated on the Central American mainland. ''Pteronotus quadridens'' is an

insectivorous bat A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores wer ...

feeding almost exclusively on flying insects. They start foraging approximately 10 minutes before sunset and continue to do so overnight. Almost all foraging is done in flight. There are two respective patterns of echolocation calls in the field. First they call with quasi-constant frequency at 81–84 kHz, followed by a downward, frequency-modulated (FM) call. When the bats are flying in confined spaces, the call duration will be shorter and the bandwidth higher than the ones emitted during the search calls in the field. ''Pteronotus quadridens'' are susceptible to predation by diurnal birds since they are the first to leave just after the sunsets. Raptors such as the

American kestrel The American kestrel (''Falco sparverius'') is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. Though it has been called the American sparrowhawk, this common name is a misnomer; the American kestrel is a true falcon, while neither th ...

red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members of ...

and

merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

are among a few of the sooty mustached bat's predators.Rodriguez-Duran, A. (1984) ''Community structure of a bat colony at Cueva Cucaracha''. MSc Thesis, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1832378 Pteronotus Bats of the Caribbean Mammals of Cuba Mammals of the Dominican Republic Mammals of Haiti Mammals of Jamaica Mammals of Puerto Rico Mammals described in 1840 Taxa named by Juan Gundlach Taxonomy articles created by Polbot