Paulson's yellow-shouldered bat (''Sturnira paulsoni'') is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is endemic to the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...

. According to the most recent IUCN analysis in 2019, it is near-threatened.

Taxonomy

The species was originally described as a species by de la Torre and Shwartz in 1966, before being reduced to a subspecies of ''S. lilium'' by Jones & Phillips in 1976. It was restored species status in 2013.

Habitat and distribution

The species is found on the islands of Saint Vincent,

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

and

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

in the Lesser Antilles. The bat mainly inhabit native humid tropical forests.

Biology

It is frugivorous. A study of echolocation calls of this species found that the species is adapted to fly in highly cluttered spaces, but can also fly fast and efficiently in open areas.

Conservation

The species is listed as near-threatened by the IUCN. The main threats it faces, like most other island species, is the chance of natural disasters like hurricanes and volcanic eruptions. It is also threatened by the change in land use and agriculture.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21377103 Mammals described in 1966 Sturnira Bats of the Caribbean