Phyllostomidae
Author
Don E. Wilson
Author
Russell A. Mittermeier
text
2019
2019-10-31
Lynx Edicions
Barcelona
Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats
444
583
book chapter
10.5281/zenodo.6458594
adeeb71f-7f8d-4e00-bc9f-35089363f76e
978-84-16728-19-0
6458594
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).