Bats can be squee

April 11, 2013 • 12:08 pm

by Greg Mayer

Bats are usually some shade of brown, gray, or black, but some are all white, some have facial masks, and some even have yellow spots. But the most distinctively patterned bat I’ve ever seen is the one making the rounds on the interwebs this week, Niumbaha superba, the skunk bat.

Niumbaha superba (DeeAnn Reeder).
Niumbaha superba (DeeAnn Reeder).

It also has large white markings on the throat and flanks (more pix here). I just made up the name “skunk bat”, but you can see why I did. @WorldofZoology likened it to a badger, but since it’s native to central Africa, it’s probably best called the ratel bat (the ratel being a black and white African and southwest Asian carnivore).

The occasion of this striking bat making the rounds is that DeeAnn Reeder of Bucknell University and her colleagues have described a new genus to accommodate it. The species was described in 1939, but had been placed in the genus Glauconycteris. Reeder and her colleagues got a new specimen from South Sudan, and based on data from this specimen and 3 others (the species is known from only five specimens), concluded it should be placed in a new genus. The diagnosis is on the basis of the pattern and various skull characters, including larger size.

Skulls of Niumbaha and two species of Glauconycteris.
Skulls of Niumbaha and two species of Glauconycteris.

There are other strikingly patterned bats; here are several proboscis bats, Rhynchonycteris naso, photographed north of Fortuna, Costa Rica, by a colleague last year. It’s hard to judge size, but I think these are Greater White-lined Bats, Saccopteryx bilineatus; any chiropterologists out there, please weigh in with your opinion. (Corrected ID provided by alert reader Batdan.)

Proboscis bats, Rhynchonycteris naso, Fortuna Costa Rica, 3.i.2012.
Proboscis bats, Rhynchnycteris naso, north of Fortuna, Costa Rica, 3.i.2012.

 

h/t Matthew Cobb

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Reeder, D, K.M. Helgen, M. Vodzak, D. Lunde, and I. Ejotre. 2013. A new genus for a rare African vespertilionid bat: insights from South Sudan. ZooKeys 285: 89-115. (pdf) (I should add that the word “insights” here is totally unnecessary, and should never have gotten past the editors, and “from South Sudan” is misleading, as the species occurs west to the Ivory Coast.)

25 thoughts on “Bats can be squee”

  3. My opinion is that if they are attempting camouflage, they need to find a darker, striped tree.

    1. It is the same bat. But the blogger got it wrong– it’s not a newly discovered species. It’s just been put in a new genus. But I do like the “panda bat” moniker.
      GCM

      1. I just skimmed through the article, so I didn’t catch that. I just thought it was funny that it popped up after I had read about it on here.

  6. Taphozous mauritianus, the Tomb Bat of Africa, also lines up like those white-lined bats, often under low eaves of buildings where they can be easily seen – very pretty bats that are white underneath and a sort of grey crew cut and a mildly confused expression.

  7. The bats lined up on the tree are Proboscis bats, Rhynchonycteris naso. A small insectivorous bat that normally roost and feed over or near water. As well as the wavy lines they have small tufts of fur on the forearms.

  8. Which “Fortuna” is that, do you know? There are at least two Fortunas in Costa Rica.

  11. So, first, thanks to those with the helpful replies to me on the question about attracting dragonflies to a garden. I don’t remember if I thanked all y’all over in that thread…but I was already planning on having something with water and probably fish; now I know I need to have water without fish — which probably means some segregation which should fit in nicely with some of my vague thoughts.

    In a similar vein…well, I already know I can Google for bat house plans which I’ll certainly do. And I’m between a couple canals, with the closest maybe a quarter mile away. But any other suggestions for attracting bats to a garden?

    Thanks, all!!

    b&

    1. I’ve noticed the bats where I live like to take advantage of lights that attract insects at night. When I’m working past dusk they’ll fly around snatching moths and whatever else the lights attract. So leaving a light on past dusk might attract them.

    2. For insect-eaters: Lights. Bug-friendly desert trees (desert hackberry, native mesquites, etc.) You’re a bit low for desert oaks but the shrub live oak (Quercus turbinella) might do OK.

      For nectar-feeders: Hummingbird feeders. Native agaves (bat-pollinated flowers), especially A. palmeri, A. murpheyi, and A. deserti (probably too hot for A. parryi).

      Or you could dig a big mine shaft. 🙂 They all love those!

      1. I’ve already figured that I’ll need plenty of hummingbird-friendly plants. Knowing that that’s a two-fer that’ll bring in the bats. There’ll definitely be some agaves; thanks for the specific recommendations.

        …and I thought it was the red-lined coffins that they went for, not the mine shafts? I might have room for a coffin…don’t know about a mine shaft. But, I think, either might attract a wee bit too much attention from various government officials….

        b&

    1. I was completely wrong–not just spelling the name, but the species too! — see the correction in the OP.(In my defense, the wing tufts are awfully small, though visible on close inspection.)

      GCM

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