Bokermann's nectar bat (''Lonchophylla bokermanni'') is a bat

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

from

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 ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

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 ...

. It feeds on nectar, and is listed as an endangered species.

Etymology

This species was discovered by Ivan Sazima and Marlies Sazima in 1974 in Serra do Cipó National Park. The species was described by Ivan Sazima, Luiz Vizotto, and

Valdir Taddei Valdir Antonio Taddei (c.1962–2004) was a Brazilian professor of mammalogy, known for his expertise in bats and works on chiropteran phylogenetics and mammalian systematics. He had a PhD in Biological Sciences (Zoology) and a Graduation in Natu ...

in 1978.Sazima, I. V. A. N., Vizotto, L. D., & Taddei, V. A. (1978). Uma nova espécie de Lonchophylla da Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais, Brasil (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae). Revista Brasileira de Biologia, 38(1), 81-89.(in Portuguese) It was named after Werner Carlos Augusto Bokermann—a prominent Brazilian

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning " reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and r ...

and former head of the bird department at the

São Paulo Zoo The São Paulo Zoo ( pt, Parque Zoológico de São Paulo) is the largest zoo in Brazil. With 824,529 m2 (82.45 hectares 03.7 acres of space in what was originally the Atlantic Forest, the zoo is south of the city of São Paulo. It displays ...

.Beolens, B., Watkins, M., & Grayson, M. (2009). The eponym dictionary of mammals. JHU Press.

Taxonomy

While it was once thought to have a wider geographic range, a 2013 analysis concluded that the population of ''L. bokermanni'' in the

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and t ...

was actually a new, separate species, Peracchi's nectar bat.Dias, D., Esberard, C. E. L., & Moratelli, R. (2013). A new species of Lonchophylla (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) from the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil, with comments on L. bokermanni. Zootaxa, 3722(3), 347-360. The implications of this taxonomic split were part of the reason that this species' listing was changed to

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

in 2016 by the IUCN, as it meant that it was not as widespread as previously thought.

Description

It is a larger member of its

genus 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 n ...

. The forearm is long, and their total body length is . Their total

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

is long, and they weigh approximately .Koopman, K. F. (1981). The distributional patterns of New World nectar-feeding bats. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 352-369. 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-physiolog ...

is . 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 s ...

is approximately long and wide. The ears are short and broad, and are rounded at the tips. Ears are approximately long and wide. The tragus is about long and pointed at the tip. The lower lip is furrowed and lined with 4-6 warts. The tongue is long and protrusible, with

papillae Papilla (Latin, 'nipple') or papillae may refer to: In animals * Papilla (fish anatomy), in the mouth of fish * Basilar papilla, a sensory organ of lizards, amphibians and fish * Dental papilla, in a developing tooth * Dermal papillae, part of ...

at the tip. The

calcar The calcar, also known as the calcaneum, is the name given to a spur of cartilage arising from inner side of ankle and running along part of outer interfemoral membrane in bats, as well as to a similar spur on the legs of some arthropods. The ...

is short but distinct, at long. The

plagiopatagium The patagium (plural: patagia) is a membranous body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift when gliding or flight. The structure is found in extant and extinct groups of flying and gliding animals including bats, birds, some dromaeosaurs, ...

attaches at the ankle. All the flight membranes are hairless and dark in color. Their fur is dense and soft. Fur on the dorsal side is yellowish brown to grayish brown, and darker than fur on the ventral, which is ash gray to grayish brown. The ears and nose-leaf are light brown. It can be distinguished from other members of its genus by its short upper and lower tooth rows, trilobulate lower

incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, w ...

s, distinctly shaped second upper

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

s, and narrow premolars and

molars The molars or molar teeth are large, flat teeth at the back of the mouth. They are more developed in mammals. They are used primarily to grind food during chewing. The name ''molar'' derives from Latin, ''molaris dens'', meaning "millstone to ...

Biology

This species is nectarivorous, and forages by trap-lining. They hover as they drink from flowers. They are known to feed from Encholirium glaziovii and

Bauhinia ''Bauhinia'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Cercidoideae and tribe Bauhinieae, in the large flowering plant family Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution. The genus was named after the Bauhin brothers Gaspard and ...

flowers.Sazima, I., Vogel, S., & Sazima, M. (1989). Bat pollination of Encholirium glaziovii, a terrestrial bromeliad. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 168(3), 167-179. Each visit to a flower is brief, lasting only tenths of a second. The bat will circle a chosen flower before facing it to drink. Stomach analysis shows that they also consume pollen and ants. Between foraging bouts, they will take 5-30 minute breaks on short trees. They forage alone. Possibly, they undergo short migrations in response to food availability. They have a

karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of metaphase chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is disce ...

of 28. The x-chromosome is medium-sized and metacentric, while the y-chromosome is small and

acrocentric The centromere links a pair of sister chromatids together during cell division. This constricted region of chromosome connects the sister chromatids, creating a short arm (p) and a long arm (q) on the chromatids. During mitosis, spindle fibers ...

.Almeida, B., Novaes, R. L. M., Aguieiras, M., de França Souza, R., Esbérard, C. E. L., & Geise, L. (2016). Karyotype of three Lonchophylla species (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) from Southeastern Brazil. Comparative cytogenetics, 10(1), 109.

Range and habitat

It is only 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 ...

of Brazil. What was thought in 2010 to be an expansion of the species' previous range into the

ended up as the discovery of a new, closely related species Peracchii's nectar bat.Pimenta, V. T., Machel, C. T., Fonseca, B. S., & Ditchfield, A. D. (2010). First occurrence of Lonchophylla bokermanni Sazima, Vizotto & Taddei, 1978 (Phyllostomidae) in Espírito Santo State, Southeastern Brazil. Chiroptera Neotropical, 16(2), 740-742. Bokermann's nectar bat has only been confirmed in

Jaboticatubas Jaboticatubas is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil. See also * List of municipalities in Minas Gerais References Municipalities in Minas Gerais {{MinasGerais-geo-stub ...

Itambé do Mato Dentro Itambé do Mato Dentro is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Conceição do Mato Dentro. As of 2020, the estimated populati ...

, and

Diamantina Diamantina may refer to: Geography Australia * Diamantina Bowen (1833-1893), ''grande dame'' of Queensland and the wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland. * ''Diamantina Cocktail'', 1976 album by Little River Band * Diam ...

, all of which are in the Brazilian state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...

Conservation

In 1996, it was listed as

vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

by the IUCN. In 2008, it was revised to

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 ...

, but it has since been uplisted to

References

External links

Sazima Network
- Relevant Scientific Papers and Pictures. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1833710 Bats of Brazil Lonchophylla Mammals described in 1978 Endemic fauna of Brazil Fauna of the Cerrado