Noctilio leporinus

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	MAMMALIA	CHIROPTERA	NOCTILIONIDAE

Scientific Name:

Noctilio leporinus

Species Authority:

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Greater Bulldog Bat

Taxonomic Notes:

Subgenus Noctilio. See Hood and Jones (1984). Antillean form reviewed by Timm and Genoways (2003)

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:	2008
Assessor/s:	Barquez, R., Perez, S., Miller, B. & Diaz, M.
Reviewer/s:	Medellín, R. (Chiroptera Red List Authority) & Schipper, J. (Global Mammal Assessment Team)
Contributor/s:
Justification: This species is listed as Least Concern in because of its wide distribution, presumed large population, occurrence in a number of protected areas, tolerance to some degree of habitat modification, and because it is unlikely to be declining at nearly the rate required to qualify for listing in a threatened category.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Sinaloa (Mexico) to the Guianas, Suriname, Brazil, Northern Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru; Trinidad; Greater and Lesser Antilles; S Bahamas (Simmons 2005).
Countries:	Native: Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Aruba; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bolivia, Plurinational States of; Brazil; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cuba; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; French Guiana; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guatemala; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Jamaica; Martinique; Mexico; Montserrat; Netherlands Antilles; Nicaragua; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Puerto Rico; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; Venezuela; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	Abundant. Rare in Argentina (Barquez pers. comm.). Large roosts of hundreds of bats have been reported. They may also roost in smaller groups of up to 30 individuals and forage at night in groups of 5 to 15 animals (Mulheisen and Berry 2000).
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Hollow trees, caves, piscivore, can eat aquatic insects. Observed in groups larger than 30 individuals in Brazil (Barquez 1999). They roost near streams, coastal marine habitats, major river basins, or other moist places. Bachelor males roost apart from females. Males residing with female groups stay for two or more reproductive seasons (Mulheisen and Berry 2000). Females bear a single young each pregnancy. This species tends to have pregnancies occuring from September until January, and lactation is first seen in November and continues until April. This is a general pattern, however, and it can vary with geographical location. Reproduction corresponds to seasons of greatest food availability (Mulheisen and Berry 2000).
Systems:	Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology:

Hollow trees, caves, piscivore, can eat aquatic insects. Observed in groups larger than 30 individuals in Brazil (Barquez 1999). They roost near streams, coastal marine habitats, major river basins, or other moist places. Bachelor males roost apart from females. Males residing with female groups stay for two or more reproductive seasons (Mulheisen and Berry 2000). Females bear a single young each pregnancy. This species tends to have pregnancies occuring from September until January, and lactation is first seen in November and continues until April. This is a general pattern, however, and it can vary with geographical location. Reproduction corresponds to seasons of greatest food availability (Mulheisen and Berry 2000).

Systems:

Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	There are no major threats throughout its range. In Guatemala fishfarmers are killing this species (Cajas pers. comm.). Water bodies pollution (Armando Rodriguez pers. comm.). In Belize the water level changed and restricted the range (Miller pers. comm.). Deforestation (Uribe and Castro-Arellano, 2005).

Major Threat(s):

There are no major threats throughout its range. In Guatemala fishfarmers are killing this species (Cajas pers. comm.). Water bodies pollution (Armando Rodriguez pers. comm.). In Belize the water level changed and restricted the range (Miller pers. comm.). Deforestation (Uribe and Castro-Arellano, 2005).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Found in protected areas.

Conservation Actions:

Found in protected areas.

Citation:	Barquez, R., Perez, S., Miller, B. & Diaz, M. 2008. Noctilio leporinus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 23 May 2013.
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