The Yucatan yellow bat (''Rhogeessa aeneus'') is a species of bat found in the

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and possibly also in

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. These small insectivorous bats forage on flying insects (most likely mosquitoes) at dawn and dusk.

Biology

Historically, evidence of

hybridization Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to: *Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid *Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals *Nu ...

between the Yucatan yellow bat and the

Black-winged little yellow bat The black-winged little yellow bat (''Rhogeessa tumida'') is a species of Vespertilionidae, vesper bat native to Central America. Description The black-winged little yellow bat is a small bat, with a total length of between , and no significant ...

has been observed.

Range and habitat

A small population of these bats has been observed on Spanish Lookout Caye, Belize, since at least 1998. They are on both the east and west sides of the mangrove

caye A cay ( ), also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, including in the Caribbean and on the Great ...

, which is located east of Belize City in the Drowned Cayes Range. According to the locals who work on the caye, the bats are thought to roost in the coconut trees during the day. ''Rhogeessa'' spp. on the keys and southern BZE are likely ''R. tumida'', not ''R. aeneus''. Surveys on the Yucatan Peninsula in BZE (Ambergris Key) suggest ''R. tumida'' is the local species.

References

Rhogeessa Bats of Central America Bats of Mexico Mammals described in 1958 {{Vespertilionidae-stub