The sooty mustached bat (''Pteronotus quadridens'') 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 bi ...

in the family

Mormoopidae The family Mormoopidae contains bats known generally as mustached bats, ghost-faced bats, and naked-backed bats. They are found in the Americas from the Southwestern United States to Southeastern Brazil. They are distinguished by the presence ...

. It is found in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Description

Sooty mustached bat is the smallest species in the 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 ...

''. Color phases in this bat are indicators of age differences or bleaching due to high concentrations of ammonia in the roost. As a result, color ranges from grayish brown to yellowish brown with some individuals reaching an orange-brown phase. The body is completely covered in fur except for the wings and tail membrane. The length of mandible is and their forearm is less than in length. The margin above nostril is lobulated and slightly convex.

Mating and reproduction

Sooty mustached bats are monoesturous and uniparous most of the time with twinning rarely occurring. Based on the testicular size, mating begins in January and most females are pregnant in May. The pregnant female undergoes an increase in body mass of 38%. The largest embryo reported weighed , or 30.2% of the female's body mass. Throughout the breeding season, either males or females might disappear completely into caves. However, there is a marked shift in adult sex ratio favoring females. This suggests sexual segregation during the maternity period.

Ecology

''Pteronotus quadridens'' roost exclusively in caves. They are one of the most common bats in Cuba and Puerto Rico. All currently known fossils of ''Pteronotus quadridens'' are believed to be from late

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

epochs. The ancestors of ''Pteronotus quadridens'' are also expected to have originated on the Central American mainland. ''Pteronotus quadridens'' is an

insectivorous bat Microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera (bats). Bats have long been differentiated into Megachiroptera (megabats) and Microchiroptera, based on their size, the use of echolocation by the Microchiroptera and ...

feeding almost exclusively on flying insects. They start foraging approximately 10 minutes before sunset and continue to do so overnight. Almost all foraging is done in flight. There are two respective patterns of echolocation calls in the field. First they call with quasi-constant frequency at 81–84 kHz, followed by a downward,

frequency-modulated Frequency modulation (FM) is the encoding of information in a carrier wave by varying the instantaneous frequency of the wave. The technology is used in telecommunications, radio broadcasting, signal processing, and computing. In analog freque ...

(FM) call. When the bats are flying in confined spaces, the call duration will be shorter and the bandwidth higher than the ones emitted during the search calls in the field. ''Pteronotus quadridens'' are susceptible to predation by diurnal birds since they are the first to leave just after the sunsets. Species such as

American kestrel The American kestrel (''Falco sparverius''), also called the sparrow hawk, is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. It has a roughly two-to-one range in size over subspecies and sex, varying in size from about the weight of ...

red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members with ...

and

merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

s are among a few of ''Pteronotus quadridens''’ predators.Rodriguez-Duran, A. (1984) ''Community structure of a bat colony at Cueva Cucaracha''. MSc Thesis, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1832378 Pteronotus Bats of the Caribbean Mammals of Cuba Mammals of the Dominican Republic Mammals of Haiti Mammals of Jamaica Mammals of Puerto Rico Mammals described in 1840 Taxa named by Juan Gundlach Taxonomy articles created by Polbot