The visored bat, (''Sphaeronycteris toxophyllum''), 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 from tropical

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 ...

. It is the only species in the genus ''Sphaeronycteris''. Although visored bats have some unique characteristics, they are thought to be most closely related to

little white-shouldered bat The little white-shouldered bat (''Ametrida centurio'') is a species of bat from South and Central America. It is the only species within its genus, the name of which translates as "reaper" or "destroyer". Description The little white-shouldere ...

s and

wrinkle-faced bat The wrinkle-faced bat (''Centurio senex'') is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae and the only identified member of the genus ''Centurio''. This bat is found in various countries in and around Central America. It eats fruit but is not ...

Description

Visored bats range from in head-body length. They have greyish-brown fur becoming paler towards the front of the body, grey or brownish-white underparts, and white spots on each shoulder and just below the ears. They have a rounded head, with a short, hairless, snout, a wide mouth, and bulging golden-brown eyes. The ears are triangular, with a narrow tragus. Their most distinctive feature, however, is the presence of the "visor" for which they are named - a structure not found in any other bat species. The visor consists of a horny outgrowth above and behind the horseshoe-shaped

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 ...

. In females it is a relatively small ridge-like structure, and located above the centre of each eye, from where it connects to a central ridge behind the nose-leaf. In adult males, it is much larger, reaching four times the size in females, and stretches all the way to the lateral corners of the eyes. Another unusual feature of male visored bats is the presence of a large fold of skin on the neck, which can be pulled up over the face as a mask while sleeping; the fold is much smaller and apparently non-functional in females.

Distribution and habitat

Visored bats are found throughout

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, in eastern

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 across the eastern

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

and neighbouring areas, including eastern

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 ...

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 ...

, western

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and northern

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. No subspecies are known. They inhabit a range of forest environments from

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

to montane

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

, and from sea level to along the eastern slopes of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

. Although their natural habitat appears to be dense forest, they have also been captured in man-made pastures and urban areas.

Biology

Relatively little is known of the biology of visored bats, because they seem to be rare, and only a few specimens have been collected. They are

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

, and either solitary or found in pairs; some have been found roosting in underground cavities, and others in

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 ...

trees. They feed solely on fruit, and breed twice each year, at the beginning and end of the rainy season.

References

External links

Infonatura
{{Taxonbar, from=Q332153 Phyllostomidae Bats of South America Bats of Brazil Mammals of Bolivia Mammals of Colombia Mammals of Ecuador Mammals of Peru Mammals of Venezuela Mammals described in 1882 Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters