The buffy flower bat (''Erophylla sezekorni'') is a species of

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

in the

leaf-nosed bat The New World leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) are found from southern North America to South America, specifically from the Southwest United States to northern Argentina. They are ecologically the most varied and diverse family within the order ...

family, Phyllostomidae. It is found in

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

, the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Description

The buffy flower bat is considered a medium-sized bat, however, compared to those in its

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

, it is a generally larger bat. Its hair has two colors on its body; the hairs closer to the body are white, while the

distal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

hairs are brown. The head and face are covered in short, white hairs. Compared to other bats, it has a long snout which sharply rises into its forehead. The buffy flower bat is named after its flowery shaped nose.

Mating

Little is known about the mating system of bats in the genus ''

Erophylla ''Erophylla'' is a genus of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It contains the following species: * Brown flower bat (''Erophylla bombifrons'') * Buffy flower bat The buffy flower bat (''Erophylla sezekorni'') is a species of bat in the leaf- ...

''; however, many of the ones that have been recorded have a

harem Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...

mating system (where there is one male to a large number of females in a single roost). The buffy flower bat is considered unusual in that a similar number of males and females roost together. When it comes time for mating, which takes place in December, they create a section of the roost for displaying. The males will spend a few hours displaying. Displays are made while hanging from the ceiling. They flap their wings repeatedly: sometimes one at a time, sometimes together. They also display by doing very tight loops. Not all males display, though males that display have more children than males that do not display.Murray, K., & Fleming, T. (2008). Social structure and mating system of the buffy flower bat, Erophylla sezekorni (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae). Journal of Mammalogy, 89(6), 1391-1400. After mating, the

gestation period In mammals, pregnancy is the period of reproduction during which a female carries one or more live offspring from implantation in the uterus through gestation. It begins when a fertilized zygote implants in the female's uterus, and ends once it ...

lasts 4–6 months. In June, they give birth to liters of only one pup at a time, whom they breast feed until the end of August.

Diet

The bats eat a combination of

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

, and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s, though fruit dominates their diet. Based on fecal droppings, it was found that 50% of the bats tested had eaten all three in a single night while the remaining ate only two of the three types of food. The insects eaten are primarily

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s, but also eat

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

s and

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

Parasites

The buffy flower bat is a primary host to a

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

(''

Periglischrus ''Periglischrus'' is a genus of mites in the family Spinturnicidae. There are more than 30 described species in ''Periglischrus'', found in South, Central, and North America, and in Africa. The species of ''Periglischrus'', like the other member ...

cubanus''), from the subclass

Acari Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

and the family

Spinturnicidae Spinturnicidae is a family of mites in the order Mesostigmata. The mites are highly specialized parasites of wing or tail membrane or bats. Some species infest eyelids and eye canthi. The species of Spinturnicidae are found in bat habitats throug ...

. These mites are found on the wing

membrane A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. B ...

and feed on the bat's blood.Deunff, J., Whitaker, J., & Kurta, A. (2011). Description of nymphal stages of Periglischrus cubanus (Acari, Spinturnicidae), parasites from Erophylla sezekorni bombifrons (Chiroptera) from Puerto Rico with observations on the nymphal stages and host-parasite relationships within the genus Periglischrus. Journal of Medical Entomology, 48(4), 758-63. The

parasites Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

are passed from mother bat to baby bat while the pup is nursing. This is done by the parasite unlatching via hooks from the mother's wing membrane and falling onto the baby where it will latch on and feed off of its blood.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q304392 Erophylla Mammals described in 1860 Mammals of the Bahamas Fauna of the Cayman Islands Mammals of Cuba Mammals of Jamaica Taxonomy articles created by Polbot