Bidentate yellow-eared bat (Vampyressa bidens)

Apr 19, 2020 Interesting Creatures in Guyana, News

Interesting Creatures…

The bidentate yellow-eared bat (Vampyressa bidens), is a bat species from South America. Formerly classified in the monotypic genus Vampyriscus, genetic analysis has shown that they instead belong within the same genus as other yellow-eared bats.
Bidentate yellow-eared bats are a small species, measuring only five to six centimetres (2.0 to 2.4 in) in head-body length, and weighing about 12 grams (0.42 oz). Males are larger than females.
The fur is pale to dark brown over most of the body, becoming slightly paler on the neck and shoulders, and fading to greyish on the underparts. The face has two white stripes on each side, a broader one above the eyes, and a narrower, less distinct one, running along the cheek. The borders and tragus of the ears, and also the margins of the nose-leaf, are bright yellow.
The bats have a short, broad, muzzle, with a prominent, spear-like, nose-leaf. The “bidentate” part of the name refers to the fact that there is normally only a single pair of incisors in the lower jaw, whereas all other yellow-eared bats have two pairs. However, this is not true of all individuals, some of which do have two pairs of lower incisors like their relatives.
Bidentate yellow-eared bats are found through much of northern South America east of the Andes, including eastern Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, southern Venezuela, northern Bolivia and Brazil, and throughout the Guyanas. They inhabit lowland evergreen forests and swampland between 200 and 1,000 m (660 and 3,280 ft) elevation.
Bidentate yellow-eared bats are herbivorous, feeding on fruit such as figs. They are nocturnal, but fly more often at dusk than they do before dawn, and spend the day roosting in trees. Females give birth to a single young in the rainy season. There are no recognised subspecies.