Bumblebee Bat

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Bumblebee Bat

Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai), also known as the bumblebee bat, is a vulnerable species

Vulnerable species

A vulnerable species is a species which is likely to become Endangered species unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve....
of bat

Bat

Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera. The forelimbs of all bats are developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of sustained flight ....
and the only member of the family Craseonycteridae. It occurs in western Thailand

Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
and southeast Burma, where it occupies limestone

Limestone

File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
cave

Cave

A cave is a natural underground void large enough for a human to enter. Some people suggest that the term cave should only apply to cavities that have some part that does not receive daylight; however, in popular usage, the term includes smaller spaces like sea caves, rock shelters, and grottos....
s along rivers.

Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat is the smallest species of bat and one of the world's smallest mammals. It has a reddish-brown or grey coat, with a distinctive pig

Pig

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Encyclopedia

Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai), also known as the bumblebee bat, is a vulnerable species

Vulnerable species

A vulnerable species is a species which is likely to become Endangered species unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve....
of bat

Bat

Thailand

Limestone

Cave

Pig

Pigs, also called hogs or swine, are a genus of even-toed ungulates within the Family Suidae. The name pig, hog, or swine most commonly refers to the Domestic pig in everyday parlance, but technically encompasses several distinct species, including the Wild Boar....
-like snout. Colonies range greatly in size, with an average of 100 individuals per cave. The bat feeds during short activity periods in the evening and dawn, foraging around nearby forest areas for insect

Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s. Females give birth annually to a single offspring.

Although the bat's status in Burma is not well-known, the Thai population is restricted to a single province and may be at risk for extinction. Its potential threats are primarily anthropogenic, and include habitat degradation and the disturbance of roosting sites.

Description

Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat is about 29–33 millimetres (1.14–1.30 in) in length and 2 gram

Gram

The gram , ; symbol g, is a Physical unit of mass.Originally defined as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of a metre, and at the temperature of melting ice" , a gram is now defined as one one-thousandth of the SI base unit, the kilogram, or Scientific notation kg, which itself is...
s (0.07 oz

Ounce

This article is about the unit of mass. For the unit of force, see Pound-force. For the unit of volume, see Fluid ounce. For all other uses, see Ounce ....
) in mass), hence the common name of "bumblebee

Bumblebee

A bumblebee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae; there are over 250 known species primarily occurring in the Northern Hemisphere....
bat". It is the smallest species of bat and may be the world's smallest mammal, depending on how size is defined. The main competitors for the title are small shrew

Shrew

Shrews are small, superficially mouse-like mammals of the Family Soricidae. Although their external appearance is generally that of a long-nosed mouse, the shrews are not rodents and not closely related: the shrew family is part of the order Soricomorpha....
s; in particular, the Etruscan shrew may be lighter (1.2–2.7 g) (0.042-0.095 oz) but is longer (36–53 mm head-and-body) (1.42-2.09 in).

The bat has a distinctive swollen, pig

Pig

Snout

The snout, or muzzle, is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw....
with thin, vertical nostrils. Its ears are relatively large, while its eyes are small and mostly concealed by fur. Its teeth are typical of an insectivorous

Insectivore

An insectivore is a type of carnivore with a diet that consists chiefly of insects and similar small creatures.Although individually small, insects exist in enormous numbers and make up a very large part of the animal biomass in almost all non-marine environments....
bat. The dental formula

Dentition

Dentition is the tooth development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth.All mammals except the monotremes, the xenarthrans, the pangolins, and the cetaceans have up to four distinct types of teeth, with a maximum number for each....
is 1:1:1:3 in the upper jaw and 2:1:2:3 in the lower jaw, with large upper incisors.

The bat's upperparts are reddish-brown or grey, while the underside is generally paler. The wings are relatively large and darker in colour, with long tips that allow the bat to hover. Despite having two caudal vertebra

Vertebra

A vertebra is an individual bone in the flexible column that defines vertebrate animals. The vertebral column encases and protects the spinal cord, which runs from the base of the cranium down the dorsal side of the animal until reaching the pelvis....
e, Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat has no visible tail. There is a large web of skin between the hind legs (the uropatagium

Patagium

*In bats, the skin forming the surface of the wing. It is an extension of the skin of the abdomen that runs to the tip of each digit, uniting the part of the body you will never get with the body....
) which may assist in flying and catching insects, although there are no tail bones or calcar

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 , this is to help spread the interfemoral membrane , which is part of the wing membrane between the tail and the hind legs....
s to help control it in flight.

Range and distribution

Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat occupies the limestone

Limestone

Cave

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
or deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
forest

Forest

File:Stara planina suma.jpgA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria....
s. In Thailand, Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat is restricted to a small region of Kanchanaburi Province

Kanchanaburi Province

Kanchanaburi is the largest of the central Provinces of Thailand of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Tak Province, Uthai Thani Province, Suphanburi Province, Nakhon Pathom Province and Ratchaburi Province....
, within the drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean....
of the Khwae Noi River. While the Sai Yok National Park contains much of the bat's range, some Thai populations occur outside the park and are therefore unprotected.

Since the 2001 discovery of a single individual in Burma, at least nine separate sites have been identified in the limestone

Limestone

Salween River

The Salween River rises in Tibet , after which it flows through Yunnan, where it is known as the Nujiang river , although either name can be used for the whole river....
, Ataran, and Gyaing Rivers of Kayin

Kayin State

Kayin State is a administrative divisions of Burma of Myanmar. The capital city is Pa-an....
and Mon State

Mon State

Mon State is an administrative division of Myanmar. It is sandwiched between Kayin State on the east, the Andaman Sea on the west, Bago Division on the north and Tanintharyi Division on the south, and has a short border with Thailand's Kanchanaburi Province at its south-eastern tip....
s. The Thai and Burmese populations are morphologically

Morphology (biology)

The term morphology in biology refers to form, structure and configuration of an organism. This includes aspects of the outward appearance as well as the form and structure of the internal parts like bones and organs....
identical, but their echolocation

Animal echolocation

Echolocation, also called biosonar, is the biological sonar used by several animals such as dolphins, shrews, most bats, and most whales....
calls are distinct. It is not known whether the two populations are reproductively isolated

Reproductive isolation

An important concept in evolutionary biology, reproductive isolation is a category of mechanisms that prevent two or more populations from exchanging genes....
.

Behaviour

Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat roosts in the caves of limestone hills, far from the entrance. While many caves contain only 10 to 15 individuals, the average group size is 100, with a maximum of about 500. Individuals roost high on walls or roof domes, far apart from each other. Bats also undertake seasonal migration between caves.

Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat has a brief activity period, leaving its roost for only 30 minutes in the evening and 20 minutes at dawn. These short flights are easily interrupted by heavy rain or cold temperatures. During this period, the bat forages within fields of cassava

Cassava

The cassava, cassadaIn page 25, Darwin says "Mandioca or cassada is likewise cultivated in great quantity."See it also in ,yuca, 'manioc, 'mogo...
and kapok
Kapok

Kapok is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae , native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and to tropical west Africa....
or around the tops of bamboo
Bamboo

The bamboos are a group of woody perennial plant evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae....
clumps and teak
Teak

Teak , is a genus of tropics hardwood trees in the family Verbenaceae, native to the south and southeast of Asia, and is commonly found as a component of monsoon forest vegetation....
trees, within one kilometre of the roosting site. The wings seem to be shaped for hovering flight, and the gut contents of specimens do include spider
Spider

Spiders are air-breathing chelicerate arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae modified into fangs that inject venom. In their bodies the usual arthropod segments are fused into two Tagma , the cephalothorax and abdomen, joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel....
s and insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s that are presumably gleaned off foliage. Nevertheless, most prey is probably caught in flight. Main staples of the bat's diet include small flies
Fly

True flies are insects of the Order Diptera , possessing a single pair of insect wing on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax....
(Chloropidae
Chloropidae

Chloropidae is a family of fly commonly known as frit flies or grass flies. There are approximately 2000 described species in over 160 genera distributed worldwide....
, Agromyzidae
Agromyzidae

The family Agromyzidae is commonly referred to as the leaf-miner flies, for the feeding habit of larvae, some of which are leaf miners on various plants....
, and Anthomyiidae
Anthomyiidae

File:Anthomyiidae.jpgAnthomyiidae is a large and diverse family of Muscoidea fly. Name came from Greek "anthos" + "myia" . Some species are commonly called "root-maggots", as the larvae are found in the stems and roots of various plants....
), hymenoptera
Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera is one of the larger order s of insects, comprising the sawfly, wasps, bees, and ants. The name refers to the membranous wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek language wikt:???? : membrane and wikt:pte??? : wing....
ns, and psocoptera
Psocoptera

Psocoptera are an Order of insects that are commonly known as booklice, barklice or barkflies. They first appeared in the Permian period, 295?248 million years ago....
ns.

Late in the dry season (around April) of each year, females give birth to a single offspring. During feeding periods, the young either stays in the roost or remains attached to the mother at one of her two vestigial pubic nipples.

Taxonomy
Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat is the only extant species in the family Craseonycteridae, which is grouped in the superfamily Rhinolophoidea as a result of molecular testing. Based on this determination, the bat's closest relatives are members of the families Hipposideridae and Rhinopomatidae
Rhinopomatidae

Mouse-tailed bats are a group of insectivore bats of the family Rhinopomatidae with only three species, all contained in the single genus Rhinopoma....
.

Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat was unknown to the world at large prior to 1974. Its common name refers to its discoverer, Thai zoologist Kitti Thonglongya
Kitti Thonglongya

Kitti Thonglongya was an eminent Thailand ornithologist and mammalogy. He is probably best known for two discoveries of endangered species.The Bumblebee Bat, Craseonycteris thonglongyai, the world's smallest species of bat and the smallest mammal in the world was found by him in 1973....
. Thonglongya worked with a British partner, John E. Hill, in classifying bats of Thailand; after Thonglongya died suddenly in February 1974, Hill formally described the species, giving it the binomial name Craseonycteris thonglongyai in honour of his colleague.

Conservation
As of the species' most recent review in 2008, Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat is listed by the IUCN
World Conservation Union

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is an international organization dedicated to natural resource Conservation ethic....
as vulnerable
Vulnerable species

A vulnerable species is a species which is likely to become Endangered species unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve....
, with a downward population trend.

Soon after the bat's discovery in the 1970s, some roosting sites became disturbed as a result of tourism, scientific collection, and even the collection and sale of individuals as souvenirs. However, these pressures may not have had a significant effect on the species as a whole, since many small colonies exist in hard-to-access locations, and only a few major caves were disturbed. Another potential risk is the activity of local monks, who have occupied roost caves during periods of meditation.

Currently, the most significant and long-term threat to the Thai population could be the annual burning of forest areas, which is most prevalent during the bat's breeding season. In addition, the proposed construction of a pipeline from Burma to Thailand may have a negative impact. Threats to the Burmese population are not well known.

In 2007, Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat was identified by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered
EDGE Species

Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered Species represent a disproportionate amount of unique evolutionary history. They have few close relatives and are often extremely unusual in the way they look, live and behave....
(EDGE) project as one of its Top 10 "focal species". EDGE identifies species that are evolutionarily distinct and need better protection to prevent extinction.