Tent-making bat

Uroderma bilobatum

SUBFAMILY

Stenodermatinae

TAXONOMY

Uroderma bilobatum Peters, 1866, São Paulo, Brazil.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

None known.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Head and body length 2.3–2.7 in (59–69 mm); forearm 1.6–1.7 in (40–44 mm); weight 0.5–0.7 oz (13–20 g); upper and lower body pale gray, two bright white stripes on top of head, a single mid-dorsal white stripe.

DISTRIBUTION

Southern Mexico to Bolivia and southeastern Brazil; Trinidad.

HABITAT

Wide variety of lowland tropical forests containing palms that it uses for tent roosts.

BEHAVIOR

Roosts solitarily or in small groups in leaf tents that it fashions from palm or banana-like leaves in the forest understory. Often uses palmate-leafed palms for tent sites. Occupancy of a particular tent can last as long as two months.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Mostly frugivorous and, like many stenodermatines, feeds heavily on fig fruits. On Barro Colorado Island, Panama, feeds mostly on small figs. Details of its foraging behavior are unknown, but this species sometimes feeds in swarms at fruiting fig trees.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Seasonally polyestrous with females producing a single baby twice a year. Birth peaks occur in February and July in Panama; degree of birth synchrony is high. Mating system is unstudied but undoubtedly involves harem-polygyny. Single adult males and a few females and their young occupy one tent.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not currently threatened, though because of its specialized roosting requirements, it is vulnerable to deforestation.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

It is a disperser of fig seeds.