The Guianan bonneted bat, or Thomas's mastiff bat, (''Eumops maurus'') is a species of

free-tailed bat The Molossidae, or free-tailed bats, are a family of bats within the order Chiroptera. The Molossidae is the fourth-largest family of bats, containing about 110 species as of 2012. They are generally quite robust, and consist of many strong-fly ...

from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. It is poorly understood, because it is difficult to capture, and may be one of the rarest

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

bats.

Description

The Guianan bonneted bat appears similar to other mastiff bats, with a body about long, and a tail measuring about . The fur is dark chocolate brown in colour, and only slightly paler on the underside than on the rest of the body. The most distinctive feature is a narrow band of white hair running along each flank to the forward part of the mesopatagium. The ears are large and rounded, positioned close together at the base, and mostly hairless, with a small tragus and long antitragus. The wings have narrow tips, and are covered in fur to about half the way along the

humerus The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extrem ...

and

femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The Femo ...

. The uropatagium is also furred for about a third of its area, and is bounded by long

calcar The calcar, also known as the calcaneum, is the name given to a spur of cartilage arising from inner side of ankle and running along part of outer interfemoral membrane in bats, as well as to a similar spur on the legs of some arthropods. The cal ...

s running for about three quarters of the length of the membrane edge. Overall, the wing membranes are pale brown in colour. Males also possess a prominent gland on the throat that is either missing or extremely small in females.

Distribution and habitat

The Guianan bonneted bat is found primarily in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

and

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

, but may also be found in neighbouring parts of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. Little is known of the bat's habitat preferences, but it has been found in humid lowland evergreen forests and pine plantations. A surprising report has been made from

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. It is probably threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q302012 Eumops Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Mammals described in 1901 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Bats of South America