.jpg/250px-Emballonura_semicaudata,_Ovalau_Island_-_Joanne_Malotaux_(22057146275).jpg){kind=small}
.jpg/2000px-Emballonura_semicaudata,_Ovalau_Island_-_Joanne_Malotaux_(22057146275).jpg)
Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something
Nothing was collected or created yet.
Pacific sheath-tailed bat
View on Wikipedia
| Pacific sheath-tailed bat | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Emballonuridae |
| Genus: | Emballonura |
| Species: | E. semicaudata
|
| Binomial name | |
| Emballonura semicaudata (Peale, 1848)
| |
| |
| Pacific sheath-tailed bat range (red — extant, black — extinct) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The Pacific sheath-tailed bat or Polynesian sheath-tailed bat (Emballonura semicaudata) is a species of sac-winged bat in the family Emballonuridae[2] found in American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Micronesia, Palau, Samoa (where it is called pe'a vai, tagiti or pe'ape'a vai), Tonga, and Vanuatu. Its natural habitat is caves.
Taxonomy
[edit]The Pacific sheath-tailed bat was initially described as a species in 1848 by American naturalist Titian Peale. He placed it in the genus Vespertilio with a scientific name of Vespertilio semicaudatus.[3] There are four subspecies:[4]
- Emballonura semicaudata palauensis: found in Palau
- Emballonura semicaudata rotensis: found in the southern Mariana Islands
- Emballonura semicaudata semicaudata: found on Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and American Samoa
- Emballonura semicaudata sulcata: found on the islands comprising Chuuk State and Pohnpei
Biology
[edit]The Pacific sheath-tailed bat is insectivorous, and prefers to forage in forests. It will travel distances of 5 km (3.1 mi) to reach foraging grounds. At night it roost in caves, lava tubes, tree hollows, and rock crevices. It is a social species, forming colonies ranging in size from a few individuals to hundreds.[4]
Conservation
[edit]In 2013, Bat Conservation International listed this species as one of the 35 species on its worldwide priority list for conservation.[5] It is threatened by habitat loss. There are estimated to be approximately 500 individuals of the subspecies E. s. rotensis.[6] Currently known to roost in only three caves, E. s. rotensis is vulnerable to changes in the local habitat, including indirect impacts caused by invasive species such as goats[6] which limit its carrying capacity.
References
[edit]
- ^ Waldien, D.L.; Scanlon, A. (2021). "Emballonura semicaudata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021 e.T7669A22135085. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T7669A22135085.en. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
- ^ Simmons, N.B. (2005). "Order Chiroptera". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 312–529. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ Peale, Titian Ramsay (1848). Mammalia and Ornithology. Vol. 8. pp. 23–24.
- ^ a b Fleming, Theodore; Racey, Paul, eds. (2010). Island Bats: Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation. University Of Chicago Press. pp. 432–434. ISBN 0226253309.
- ^ "Annual Report 2013-2014" (PDF). batcon.org. Bat Conservation International. August 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 7, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
- ^ a b Welch, Jessica Nicole; Fordyce, James A.; Simberloff, Daniel S. (2016-09-01). "Indirect impacts of invaders: A case study of the Pacific sheath-tailed bat (Emballonura semicaudata rotensis)". Biological Conservation. 201: 146–151. Bibcode:2016BCons.201..146W. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2016.07.004. ISSN 0006-3207.