Anoura cultrata, Handley, 1960

Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2019, Phyllostomidae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 444-583 : 521

69.

Handley’s Tailless Bat

Anoura cultrata

French: Anoura de Handley / German: Handley-Langnasenfledermaus / Spanish: Anoura de Handley

Other common names: Black Tailless Bat, Handley's Long-tongued Bat

Taxonomy. Anoura cultrata Handley, 1960 ,

“Tacarcuna Village, 3,200 ft. [= 975 ml], Rio Pucro, Darién, Panama.”

A. brevirostrum from Huanuco, Peru, and A. werckleae from San José, Costa Rica, were originally described as distinct species, but D. Nagorsen and J. R. Tamsitt in 1981 found morphological variation to be continuous from Central America into Peru, so are considered as synonymshere. Monotypic.

Distribution. Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, N & W Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and into Cochabamba Department in WC Bolivia.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 54-79 mm, tail 3-4 mm, ear 12-17 mm, hindfoot 9-14 mm, forearm 34-43 mm; weight 9-23 g. Males are bigger than females. Handley’s Tailless Bat is a medium-sized species of Anoura . It has dense dorsal fur, with slightly long tricolored hairs; bases of hairs are pale (grayish) and distally gray-brown to dark brown. Dorsum is darker than gray-brown venter. Muzzle is elongated, and lower jaw extends well beyond upperlip. Proximal one-half of forearm is well haired. Uropatagium is reduced to narrow, densely furred band. Short tail forms small protrusion on edge of caudal membrane and is concealed in fur. Legs and feet are furry. Tongue is long, with hairy papillae for nectar retention. Handley’s Tailless Bat can be distinguished from congeners based on presence of extremely deep sulcus in anterior face of upper canines, unusually large P,, and extremely small size of upper incisors.

Habitat. Mainly montane cloud forests in a variety of habitats from secondary forests and disrupted open areas with grass and shrubs to mature cloud forests at elevations of 50-2600 m.

Food and Feeding. Diet of Handley’s Tailless Bat consists offruit, pollen, nectar, and opportunistically insects (moths). It behaves as a foliage gleaner. Pollen in its pelage included that of Wercklea lutea ( Malvaceae ).

Breeding. Lactating Handley’s Tailless Bats can be found north of South America during August and females with fetuses in July-August. One young per pregnancy is most common, but a female (21: 6 g) gave birth to twin males in July at Ibague, Colombia.

Activity patterns. Handley’s Tailless Bat is nocturnal. Most known roosting sites are in natural caves, sometimes associated with oilbirds (Steatornis caripensis), or human-made structures (i.e. abandoned railroad tunnels).

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Handley’s Tailless Bat is known to share roost with Tailed Tailless Bats (A. caudifer ), Geoffroy’s Tailless Bats (A. geoffroyr), Silky Short-tailed Bats ( Carollia brevicaudum), Parnell’s Common Mustached Bats ( Pteronotus parnellii), and Montane Myotis ( Myotis oxyotus).

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Handley’s Tailless Bat could be rare in parts ofits distribution. In its southernmost distribution in Bolivia,it is listed as vulnerable by the Bolivian Bat Conservation Program.

Bibliography. Aguirre, Moya et al. (2010), Griffiths & Gardner (2008a), Handley (1960), Harper et al. (2013), Lemke & Tamsitt (1979), Molinari & Mantilla-Meluk (2016), Moya et al. (2009), Nagorsen & Tamsitt (1981), Reid (2009), Tamsitt & Nagorsen (1982), Tirira (2017).

Figures

63. Tailed Tailless Bat (Anoura caudifer), 64. Ecuadorian Tailless Bat (Anowra aequatoris), 65. Cadena’s Tailless Bat (Anowra cadenai), 66. Tube-lipped Tailless Bat (Anoura fistulata), 67. Luis Manuel’s Tailless Bat (Anoura luismanueli), 68. Peruvian Tailless Bat (Anowra javier), 69. Handley’s Tailless Bat (Anoura cultrata), 70. Broad-toothed Tailless Bat (Anowra latidens), 71. Geoffroy’s Tailless Bat (Anoura geoffroy), 72. Tschudi’s Tailless Bat (Anoura peruana), 74. Godman’s Long-tailed Bat (Choeroniscus godmani), 75. Lesser Long-tailed Bat (Choeroniscus minor), 76. Greater Long-tailed Bat (Choeroniscus periosus), 77. Mexican Long-tongued Bat (Choeronycteris mexicana), 78. Capixaba Nectarfeeding Bat (Dryadonycteris capixaba), 79. Banana Bat (Musonycteris harrisoni), 80. Pale Brown Long-tongued Bat (Lichonycteris degener), 81. Dark Long-tongued Bat (Lichonycteris obscura), 82. Ega Long-tongued Bat (Scleronycteris ega)

Distribution. Costa Rica , Panama , Colombia , N & W Venezuela , Ecuador , Peru , and into Cochabamba Department in WC Bolivia .