Behn's bat, Behn's big-eared bat, or Behn's graybeard bat (''Glyphonycteris behnii'') is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae found in

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 ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. It is known only from six specimens and is considered rare. It feeds on insects and small fruits.

Taxonomy and etymology

Behn's bat was described in 1865 by German naturalist

Wilhelm Peters Wilhelm Karl Hartwich (or Hartwig) Peters (22 April 1815 in Koldenbüttel – 20 April 1883) was a German naturalist and explorer. He was assistant to the anatomist Johannes Peter Müller and later became curator of the Berlin Zoological Mus ...

. Peters placed it in the now-defunct genus ''Schizostoma'' with a scientific name of ''Schizostoma behnii''. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

was collected in

Cuiabá Cuiabá () is the capital city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. It is located near the geographical centre of South America. Also, it forms the metropolitan area of Mato Grosso, along with the neighbouring town of Várzea Grande. The city' ...

, Brazil. In 1898,

Gerrit Smith Miller Jr. Gerrit Smith Miller Jr. (December 6, 1869 – February 24, 1956), was an American zoologist and botanist. He was born in Peterboro, New York, in 1869. His great-grandfather was Gerrit Smith, the wealthy abolitionist, businessman, and polit ...

reclassified it, placing it in the genus ''

Micronycteris ''Micronycteris'' is a genus of leaf-nosed bats. List of species Genus ''Micronycteris'' - little big-eared bats * Brosset's big-eared bat, ''Micronycteris brosseti ''Simmons & Voss, 1998 * '' Micronycteris buriri'' Larsen, Siles, Pedersen, & Kw ...

''. In 1906, Knud Andersen placed it in ''Glyphonycteris'' but spelled the

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

as ''behni''. The

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

for the species name "''behnii''" is German zoologist

Wilhelm Friedrich Georg Behn Wilhelm Friedrich Georg Behn (25 December 1808, Kiel – 14 May 1878, Dresden) was a German anatomist and zoologist. For eight years he was president of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. From 1828 he studied medicine at the Universities o ...

Description

Its forearm length is . The lancet of its

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 s ...

is about 1.5 times longer than it is wide.

Biology and ecology

Based on the diets of closely related species, Behn's bat is likely

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

, consuming

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 and small fruits.

Range and habitat

Behn's bat is native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

, where it is found in

and

. In Brazil, it is found in the

Cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are ...

Conservation

As of 2016, it is evaluated as a

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessarily ...

species by the IUCN because only six individuals have ever been documented. Little is known about its population size, ecology, or potential threats. However, it is potentially threatened by habitat loss due to

conversion to farmland Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpose o ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1832524 Glyphonycteris Mammals described in 1865 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters Bats of South America