Common Name: Fishing bat, and Bulldog bat
Taxonomy: One genus, two species
Distribution: tropical or subtropical New World bats
Fossil Record:
Size Range: head and body length 98 - 132 mm, forearm 70 - 92 mm, male 70 gms, female 60 gms
Characteristics:
Insect eater (over water) or (1 spp.) fish and crustaceans
Swollen lips with vertical fold under the nostrils and folds of skin under the chin, tubular nose. Large slender, pointed ears with tragus with a serrated edge.
Sexes dimorphic in colour (male reddish, female grey or brown). Males covered in fishy oily secretion.
Tail goes halfway down the membrane and tip free of membrane, strong calcar - lift tail away from surface of water when fishing (for the fishing species).
Fisherbat catches fish by detecting ripples in water or a fin, picked up by really big feet acting like two large grappling hooks. Also crustaceans and aquatic insects. Other species is smaller and relies on insects for its diet - feet less developed.
Forage over water, good swimmers, take flight from water, long narrow wings.
Roost in small groups, roosts have a musky smell especially the fishing species.
(from the books "Bats - A Natural History" and from "Walker's Bats of the World")