Mormoopidae

(Mormoopidae)

Class: Mammalia

Order: Chiroptera

Suborder: Microchiroptera

Family: Mormoopidae

Thumbnail description
The lips of moustached bats are ornamented with flaps and folds of skin surrounded by bristle-like hairs giving the appearance of a moustache

Size
Moustached bat are small to medium in size with forearms ranging from 1.4 to 2.6 in (3.5–6.5 cm) in length and weighing 0.2–0.9 oz (6–26 g)

Number of genera, species
2 genera; 8 species

Habitat
Moustached bats are found in lowland Neotropical areas below 10,000 ft (3,000 meters) from rainforest to forest and in more open, arid areas

Conservation status
Vulnerable: 1 species; Lower Risk/Near Threatened: 2 species

Distribution
Central America and parts of South America

Evolution and systematics

Moustached bats belong to the Noctilionoidea superfamily with the bulldog bats (Noctilionidae) and American leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae). Mormoopids are not known as other than recent fossils.

Physical characteristics

Generally small in size with body weight not exceeding 0.9 oz (26 g), moustached bats have flaps and folds of skin around the mouth as well as moustache-like hairs making them distinctive. There are three distinct forms of moustached bats. Ghost-faced bats, species of the genus Mormoops, have very well developed flaps of skin around the mouth. In the skulls of ghost-faced bats, the braincase protrudes over the rostrum. In other moustached bats, the flaps of skin are not so well developed and the braincase does not protrude over the rostrum. Among these moustached bats, the wings either join at the side of the body (sooty moustached bat [Pteronotus quadridens], Wagner's moustached bat [Pteronotus personatus], Parnell's moustached bat [Pteronotus parnellii], MacLeay's moustached bats [Pteronotus macleayii]) or at mid-back (Davy's naked-backed bat [Pteronotus davyi], big naked-backed bat [Pteronotus gymnonotus]). The significance of the expression "naked backs," a species in the genus Dobsonia (family Pteropodidae), remains unknown. The fur of moustached bats can be gray or bright orange in color.

Distribution

Moustached bats occur in the West Indies, Central America, and in South America ranging into Brazil and Peru.

Habitat

Moustached bats occur in lowland Neotropical areas from rainforest to forest and in more open, arid areas.

Behavior

Moustached bats typically roost together in large colonies, in hollows such as caves, mines, or tunnels, and probably also in hollow trees. Roosting individuals may or may not be in physical contact with one another. Aerial-feeding species that eat flying insects, moustached bats use echolocation to detect, track, and evaluate their targets. When echolocating, seven species of mormoopids separate pulse and echo in time. But Parnell's moustached bat separates pulse and echo in the frequency domain, making them more like the horseshoe (Rhinolophidae) and Old World leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideridae) of the Old World.

Feeding ecology and diet

Moustached bats, like all mormoopids, are exclusively insect eaters. They eat a wide range of flying insects, from flies to beetles and moths. In forested areas, these bats typically hunt along trails and roads sometimes flying very close to within 3.3 ft (1 m) the ground and vegetation.

Reproductive biology

Females bear a single young each year at the beginning of the rainy season. Gestation appears to last about 60 days, and in the West Indies copulations occur in January and February.

Conservation status

The IUCN considers two species (Antillean ghost-faced bat [Mormoops blainvillii] and sooty moustached bat [Pteronotus quadridens]) as Lower Risk/Near Threatened. MacLeay's moustached bat is considered Vulnerable because of its declining habitat.

Significance to humans

As all bats, mormoopids pollinate numerous plants, including economically important crops such as banana, mango, and avocado. In the tropics, bats are responsible for 70–95% of all seeds dispersed, thus playing an important role in forest regeneration.

Species accounts

Resources

Hutson, A. M., S. P. Mickelburgh, and P. A. Racey. Global Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan, Microchiropteran bats. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN SSC Chiroptera Specialist Group, 2001.

Nowak, R. M. Walker's Mammals of the World. Vol. 1. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Reid, F. A. A Field Guide to the Mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Adams, J. K. "Pteronotus davyi." Mammalian Species 346 (1989): 1–5.

Herd, R. M. "Pteronotus parnellii." Mammalian Species 209 (1983): 1–5.

Lancaster, W. C., and E. K. V. Kalko. "Mormoops blainvilli." Mammalian Species 544 (1996): 1–5.

Rezsutek, M., and G. N. Cameron. "Mormoops megalophylla." Mammalian Species 448 (1993): 1–5.

Rodriguez-Duran, A., and T. H. Kunz. "Pteronotus quadridens." Mammalian Species 395 (1992): 1–4.

[Article by: Melville Brockett Fenton, PhD]

Mustached Bats Fossil range: Pleistocene to Recent
Antillean Ghost-faced Bat's face by Ernst Haeckel (1904) (Mormoops blainvillii)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Chiroptera Family: Mormoopidae
Genera
Mormoops Pteronotus

The family Mormoopidae contains bats known generally as moustache bats, ghost-faced bats, and naked-backed bats. They are found in Central and South America, from Southern Mexico to Southeastern Brazil.

They are distinguished by the presence of a leaf-like projection from their lips, instead of the nose-leaf found in many other bat species. In some species, the wing membranes join over the animal's back, making it appear hairless. The tail projects only a short distance beyond the membrane that stretches between the hind legs. They are brownish in colour, with short, dense fur^[1]. Their dental formula is:

Dentition
2.1.2.3
2.1.3.3

Mormoopid bats roost in caves and tunnels in huge colonies that may include hundreds of thousands of members, producing enough guano to allow commercial mining. Living in a tropical part of the world, they do not hibernate, as some other bats do. They feed on insects found close to, or on, bodies of water^[1].

Classification

The family consists of two genera, containing around 13 species.

• Genus Mormoops
• Genus Pteronotus

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Macdonald, D., ed (1984). The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File. p. 805. ISBN 0-87196-871-1. 

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