Hildegarde's tomb bat (''Taphozous hildegardeae'') is a species of

sac-winged bat Emballonuridae is a family of microbats, many of which are referred to as sac-winged or sheath-tailed bats. They are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The earliest fossil records are from the Eocene. Descr ...

in the family Emballonuridae. It is found near the coast in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

where it feeds in tropical dry forests and roosts in caves. It is a diurnal species and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed its conservation status as "endangered". The specific name ''hildegardeae'' was given in honour of

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

Hildegarde Beatrice Hinde.

Description

Hildegarde's tomb bat is a moderate-sized, sac-winged bat. The head has a long, pointed snout and a deep hollow between the eyes, which are large. The lower lip has a grooved protuberance and the ears are triangular and backward-pointing. There is no nose-leaf nor throat pouches. The wings are long and narrow. There is fur over the whole body, the dorsal surface being pale greyish-brown and the ventral surface white. Fully-grown males have a black throat patch; glands in this patch secrete fluids which tend to stain the fur on the chest yellowish-brown. The wing membranes are mainly white, with brown streaking at base. The tail is free, projecting from the upper surface of the interfemoral membrane.

Distribution and habitat

This bat is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to East Africa where it is restricted to the coastal strip of Kenya and Tanzania. Its range extends from the Tana River estuary in Kenya to

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

in Tanzania, as well as the islands of

Pemba Pemba may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Pemba Island, in Tanzania * Pemba, Mozambique, the capital of Cabo Delgado Province * Pemba, Zambia, a small town Individuals * George Pemba, South African painter * Pemba (panda), a red panda * Tsewang Yishe ...

and

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

. It is dependent on caves or other underground locations for roosting, and on dry forests for feeding. In general, these bats are resident, but a distinct population of larger and darker individuals in southeastern Kenya migrates every year to an unknown destination.

Ecology

Hildegarde's tomb bat is a diurnal species, hunting through the forests for

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

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 ...

s, and roosting at night in caves and other underground locations, often sharing its roosts with the rather more common African sheath-tailed bat (''Coleura afra'').

Status

This bat has a relatively small range, with a total area of occurrence of . It is known from about ten different locations within that range. The threats it faces include disturbance at its roosting caves, and the degradation of the forests in which it hunts. The

has assessed its conservation status as being endangered.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1834226 Taphozous Bats of Africa Mammals of Kenya Mammals of Tanzania Mammals described in 1909 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot