The hairy yellow-shouldered bat (''Sturnira erythromos'') 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 ...

in the family Phyllostomidae native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. There are no recognised subspecies.

Description

The hairy yellow-shouldered bat is a small bat, on average measuring only in total length, and weighing . The body is covered in soft, dark brown hair, and the wings are almost black. Despite the name, only a few individuals have yellow fur on the shoulders, which are usually the same colour as the rest of the body. The animal has a short, almost hairless snout and a rounded cranium, with a dark patch of fur on the forehead. The wings are long, broad, and pointed, and the

uropatagium The patagium (plural: patagia) is a membranous body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift when gliding or flight. The structure is found in extant and extinct groups of flying and gliding animals including bats, birds, some dromaeosau ...

is almost absent. The hairy yellow-shouldered bat has no tail, and also lacks the spurs on the legs that help support the uropatagium on most other bat species. The ears are short and rounded, and the eyes large. The

nose-leaf A nose-leaf, or leaf nose, is an often large, lance-shaped nose, found in bats Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals ...

is also relatively simple in structure, being broad and short, with the 'horseshoe' typical of phyllostomid bats beings fused to the upper lip. A single row of

whiskers Vibrissae (; singular: vibrissa; ), more generally called Whiskers, are a type of stiff, functional hair used by mammals to sense their environment. These hairs are finely specialised for this purpose, whereas other types of hair are coarse ...

rises from a fused pad around the nose-leaf.

Distribution and habitat

Hairy yellow-shouldered bats are native to the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

, being found from northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. They primarily inhabit tropical cloud forests and high altitude

rain forest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

s, but may also be found in drier forests or montane grasslands during at least some times of the year. Although they can be found at relatively low altitude in Argentina, throughout most of their range they are found between elevation, living higher the closer they are to the equator.

Biology

Hairy yellow-shouldered bats are

frugivorous A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance an ...

, with their favoured food being the fruit of pepper plants and various species of ''

Solanum ''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae ...

''. They are nocturnal, spending the day roosting in hollow trees. Compared with other tropical species, the bats are adapted to a relatively cold climate, being able to reduce their body temperature when the ambient temperature drops below . At least in Argentina, the breeding season begins in July, with young being born between November and January. Mothers give birth to a single young.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1831336 Sturnira Mammals of Colombia Mammals of the Andes Mammals described in 1844 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot