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Leaf-nosed bat

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iLeaf-nosed bats
Image:Macrotus waterhousii - Cartwright Cave - Long Island (6).jpg.jpg
Macrotus waterhousii, Cartwright Cave, Long Island [sic], Bahamas. Taken by Matti Mero, March 2006
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Phyllostomidae
Gray, 1825
Genera

See text.

The Leaf-nosed bats, family Phyllostomidae, are ecologically the most varied and diverse group within the whole order Chiroptera. Phyllostomid bats include within their number true predatory species that take vertebrate prey including small Dove -sized birds in the case of the False Vampire, Vampyrum spectrum, the largest bat in the Americas. Members of this family have evolved to utilize food groups such as fruit, nectar, pollen, insects, frogs, other bats and small vertebrates, and even blood.

The family gets its name from the often large, lance shaped nose projection used to direct their sonar, though some of the nectar/pollen feeders have greatly reduced it. Because these bats echolocate nasally, this "nose-leaf" is thought to serve some role in modifying and directing the echolocation call.

There are 148 species within 48 genera which are listed below.

The representative genera:

fr:Phyllostomidae nl:Bladneusvleermuizen van de Nieuwe Wereld pt:Phyllostomidae ru:Листоносые

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