The family Mormoopidae contains

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 ...

s known generally as mustached bats, ghost-faced bats, and naked-backed bats. They are found in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

from the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

to Southeastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. They are distinguished by the presence of a leaf-like projection from their lips, instead of the

nose-leaf A nose-leaf, or leaf nose, is an often large, lance-shaped nose, found in bats of the Phyllostomidae, Hipposideridae The Hipposideridae are a family of bats commonly known as the Old World leaf-nosed bats. While it has often been seen as a su ...

found in many other bat species. In some species, the wing membranes join over the animal's back, making it appear hairless. The tail projects only a short distance beyond the membrane that stretches between the hind legs. They are brownish in colour, with short, dense fur. Their

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiolo ...

is: Mormoopid bats roost in caves and tunnels in huge colonies that may include hundreds of thousands of members, producing enough

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

to allow commercial mining. They do not

hibernate Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It most ...

as some other bats do since they live in the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

. They feed on

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 found close to, or on, bodies of water.

Classification

The family consists of two

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

, containing around 13 species. FAMILY MORMOOPIDAE *Genus ''

Mormoops ''Mormoops'' is a genus of bat in the family Mormoopidae. It contains the following species: * Antillean ghost-faced bat (''Mormoops blainvillii'') * Giant ghost-faced bat (†''Mormoops magna'') * Ghost-faced bat The ghost-faced bat (''Morm ...

Leach Leach may refer to: * Leach (surname) * Leach, Oklahoma, an unincorporated community, United States * Leach, Tennessee, an unincorporated community, United States * Leach Highway, Western Australia * Leach orchid * Leach phenotype, a mutation in ...

, 1821 **''

Mormoops blainvillii The Antillean ghost-faced bat (''Mormoops blainvillei'') is a species of bat in the family Mormoopidae. It is found in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. Description These bats range in color from a pale cinnamon to ...

'' (Leach, 1821) – Antillean ghost-faced bat **''

Mormoops magna The giant ghost-faced bat (''Mormoops magna'') is a prehistoric species of bat that was endemic to the Caribbean. It is only known from fragmental humerus remains, which physically resemble those of ''Mormoops megalophylla'' but are larger in size ...

''† (Silva-Taboada, 1974) – giant ghost-faced bat **''

Mormoops megalophylla The ghost-faced bat (''Mormoops megalophylla'') is a bat in the genus ''Mormoops''. It is one of only two extant species within its genus, the other being the much smaller ''Mormoops blainvillii''. They are nocturnal and hunt using echolocatio ...

'' (

Peters Peters may refer to: People * Peters (surname) * Peters Band, a First Nations band in British Columbia, Canada Places United States * Peters, California, a census-designated place * Peters, Florida, a town * Peters Township, Kingman County, Kan ...

, 1864) – ghost-faced bat *Genus ''

Pteronotus ''Pteronotus'' is a genus 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. Bat ...

Gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

, 1838 **Subgenus ''Chilonycteris'' Gray, 1839 ***''

Pteronotus macleayii Macleay's mustached bat (''Pteronotus macleayii'') is a species of bat in the family Mormoopidae. It is found in Cuba and Jamaica, and is threatened by habitat loss. The species is named for William Sharp Macleay, who collected the type specime ...

'' (Gray, 1839) – Macleay's mustached bat ***''

Pteronotus personatus Wagner's mustached bat (''Pteronotus personatus'') is a bat species from South and Central America. It is one of the few New World bats species known to perform Doppler shift compensation behavior. Description Wagner's mustached bat is a relat ...

'' (

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

, 1843) – Wagner's mustached bat ***''

Pteronotus quadridens The sooty mustached bat (''Pteronotus quadridens'') is a species of bat in the family Mormoopidae. It is found in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. Description Sooty mustached bat is the smallest species in the g ...

'' ( Gundlach, 1860) – sooty mustached bat **Subgenus ''Phyllodia'' Gray, 1843 ***''

Pteronotus paraguanensis The Paraguana moustached bat (''Pteronotus paraguanensis'') occurs only on the Paraguaná Peninsula of Venezuela. The entire population uses three caves, one of which is subject to human vandalism. Their total range is less than . In 2008, the ca ...

'' (Linares & Ojasti, 1974) – Paraguana moustached bat ***''

Pteronotus parnellii Parnell's mustached bat (''Pteronotus parnellii'') is an insectivorous bat native to the Americas. It ranges from southern Sonora, Mexico, south to Brazil. It has a wider historical range; fossil specimens have been collected on the island of Ne ...

'' (Gray, 1843) – Parnell's mustached bat ***'' Pteronotus pristinus''† (Silva-Taboada, 1974) – pristine mustached bat **Subgenus ''Pteronotus'' Gray, 1838 ***''

Pteronotus davyi Davy's (lesser) naked-backed bat (''Pteronotus davyi'') is a small, insect-eating, cave-dwelling bat of the Family Mormoopidae. It is found throughout South America, South and Central America, including Trinidad, but not Tobago, Guyana, Suriname ...

'' (Gray, 1838) – Davy's naked-backed bat ***''

Pteronotus gymnonotus The big naked-backed bat (''Pteronotus gymnonotus''), is a bat species from South and Central America. Taxonomy It was described as a new species in 1843 by German zoologist Johann Andreas Wagner. Wagner placed it in the now-defunct genus ''C ...

'' ( Natterer, 1843) – big naked-backed bat

References

Bat families Extant Pleistocene first appearances Taxa named by Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure {{bat-stub