Geographic Range
Ectophylla alba
, also known as the Honduran white bat, can be found in Honduras and western Panama,
as well as the Caribbean lowlands of Central America. Other areas this species inhabits
can also include eastern Honduras, eastern Nicaragua, and eastern Costa Rica. The
range of this species extends as far east as the Atlantic Coast and as far west as
Lake Nicaragua.
- Biogeographic Regions
- neotropical
Habitat
- Habitat Regions
- tropical
- Terrestrial Biomes
- rainforest
Physical Description
Honduran white bat fur varies from grey to a snow-white color and they have a leaf-shaped
nose that is serrated on the edge and yellow or amber in color. Their ears also are
the same color. These bats lack a tail. Their total length is 3.7 cm to 4.7 cm and
average mass is 5.67 grams. Their forearm length is 25 to 28 mm. Honduran white bat
wings are a soft yellow color on the outermost part while the inner membrane is a
grayish black color. They have an average wingspan of 10.2 cm. Their dental formula
is 2122/2122, totaling 28 teeth. Sexual dimorphism is believed to exist, with males
being slightly larger than females. However, no metrics have been reported to support
this trend.
- Other Physical Features
- endothermic
- homoiothermic
- bilateral symmetry
- Sexual Dimorphism
- male larger
Reproduction
Honduran white bats live in roosts of one male and five or six females. The mating
season for these bats is during the warmer, wet season in Central America, from May
and August. During this period, the single male of the roost will then mate with the
group of females. Once the females have had their pups, males will go off and join
a bachelor roost with other males, while the females remain in their maternity roost.
- Mating System
- polygynous
Honduran white bats breed during the warmer months, typically during May and August in correspondence to the rainy season in Central America. In a roost, one male mates with the five females in that roost and each female has a single pup. The gestation period of female Honduran white bats is about 3 weeks. When the females have given birth, male Honduran white bats will form bachelor roosts which contain about six males per roost whereas females form maternity roosts.
Offspring are weaned and can fly at an age of 20 days. After 35 days, offspring are
independent and are almost indistinguishable from the adults in terms of size and
coloration.
- Key Reproductive Features
- iteroparous
- seasonal breeding
- gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
- sexual
- viviparous
From birth to independence, female Honduran white bats typically invest all of their
time in taking care of their young. Female Honduran white bats form maternity colonies
that include adult females and their young. Males form bachelor roosts in groups of
six mature males. They maintain this bachelor colony until the offspring have matured
and left the maternity roosts. Therefore, the males do not contribute to the offspring
beyond mating.
When females with young go out to forage, other females have been known to take in
the young and nurse the pup until its mother returns.
- Parental Investment
- female parental care
-
pre-hatching/birth
-
provisioning
- female
-
protecting
- female
-
provisioning
-
pre-weaning/fledging
-
provisioning
- female
-
protecting
- female
-
provisioning
-
pre-independence
-
provisioning
- female
-
protecting
- female
-
provisioning
Lifespan/Longevity
There is currently no information on the lifespan on Honduran white bats. The typical
lifespan of members of the
Phyllostomidae
family is about seven years. Members of the genus
Desmodus
have been known to live about 18 years in the wild and up to 19.5 years in captivity.
It is expected that Honduran white bats have a lifespan within these ranges.
Behavior
Honduran white bats are a social species, often building roosts out of heliconia (
Heliconia
species) leaves, a flowering plant endemic to the forests of Central America. This
plant can house from one to six individuals, typically one sexually-active male and
5 females. In order to build these roosts, the females will cut from the outermost
edge of the leaf to the midrib, causing it to droop. During the day, these bats use
their roosts to sleep and protect themselves from the sight of predators, using the
daylight to camouflage themselves.
At night, Honduran white bats emerge from their roost and forage for fruit. Honduran
white bats use echolocation to navigate at night.
Home Range
The home range of Honduran white bats is typically 22.6 to 63.2 hectares. Although
they return to the same heliconia leaf after foraging, they do not defend it and are
not territorial.
Communication and Perception
Honduran white bats use calls and touch to communicate with other individuals from
its species, whether it be locating other individuals or communicating to others in
their own roosts. During mating season, males and females communicate with each other
through the use of pheromones to tell when the females are in heat and ready to mate.
At night, Honduran white bats use echolocation in order to find fruit which is their
main source of food.
- Other Communication Modes
- pheromones
- Perception Channels
- visual
- tactile
- echolocation
- chemical
Food Habits
Honduran white bat primary diet is figs, but they can feed on other fruits. Honduran
white bats forage for fruits at night.
- Plant Foods
- fruit
Predation
Honduran white bats are preyed upon by animals that can reach them in their roosts.
These predators are typically owls, snakes, opossums, squirrel monkeys (
Saimiri oerstedi
), and raptors. The enclosed leaf roosts provide camouflage and can help shield the
bats from predators. During the day, sunlight will shine through the canopy and tends
to radiate through leaves. The white fur of Honduran white bats reflect the sun and
appears a greenish color to act as a camouflage.
- Anti-predator Adaptations
- cryptic
Ecosystem Roles
Honduran white bats are only one of four members of the family
Phyllostomidae
endemic to Central America. Their unique habit of folding
Heliconia
leaves into tents, combined with their focus on figs as food makes them a unique
contributor to their ecosystem. It's unknown if they disperse fig seeds. No parasites
have been reported for this species.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
There are no positive economic impacts Honduran white bats have on humans.
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
There are no negative economic impacts Honduran white bats have on humans.
Conservation Status
Honduran white bats are listed as "Near Threatened" on the IUCN Red List because of
a significant decline in habitat. This loss is attributed to the rapidly growing human
population and the clear-cutting of forests to make way for urbanization. Their specialized
lifestyle, relying entirely on
Heliconia
leaves also makes them vulnerable to extinction. These bats can exist (albeit in
small numbers) in agroforestry habitats, suggesting a chance to coexist with human
activity. No other large-scale conservation efforts are in place for this species.
These bats have no special status on the CITES list or any U.S. lists because they
don't exist in U.S. territories.
Additional Links
Contributors
Stephanie Felton (author), Radford University, Alex Atwood (editor), Radford University, Karen Powers (editor), Radford University, Joshua Turner (editor), Radford University, Tanya Dewey (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
- Neotropical
-
living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- tropical
-
the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.
- rainforest
-
rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.
- endothermic
-
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
- polygynous
-
having more than one female as a mate at one time
- iteroparous
-
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
- seasonal breeding
-
breeding is confined to a particular season
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- viviparous
-
reproduction in which fertilization and development take place within the female body and the developing embryo derives nourishment from the female.
- female parental care
-
parental care is carried out by females
- arboreal
-
Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.
- nocturnal
-
active during the night
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- sedentary
-
remains in the same area
- social
-
associates with others of its species; forms social groups.
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- pheromones
-
chemicals released into air or water that are detected by and responded to by other animals of the same species
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- echolocation
-
The process by which an animal locates itself with respect to other animals and objects by emitting sound waves and sensing the pattern of the reflected sound waves.
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
- cryptic
-
having markings, coloration, shapes, or other features that cause an animal to be camouflaged in its natural environment; being difficult to see or otherwise detect.
- herbivore
-
An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.
- frugivore
-
an animal that mainly eats fruit
References
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Brooke, A. 1989. Tent selection, roosting ecology and social organization of the tent-making bat, Ectophylla alba, in Costa Rica. Journal of Zoology , 221/1: 11-19.
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