Dekeyser’s nectar bat

Data Sheet

Diet: Nectarivore

These bats are known pollinators of at least seven species of plant (notably orchid trees Bauhinia), visiting flowers to feed on nectar during the dry season. During the rainy season, they expand their diet to include insects and fruit, such as Piper and Cecropia. 

Fun Fact: Home ranges for Dekeyser’s nectar bat vary between 540 and 640 hectares (or about 1500 acres) and they travel an average of around 1.3 km each night while foraging. 

Appearance: Dekeyer’s nectar bats are a pale orange-ish yellow, with lighter-colored fur on their bellies. Only weighing around 10 grams with relatively short noses tipped in a delicate nose-leaf, they are smaller than many other species in the Lonchophylla genus. 

Habitat: A cave roosting species, Dekeyser’s nectar bats are restricted to Neotropical savannas (Cerrado) in Brazil and Bolivia, though they will travel across pasture areas in fragmented landscapes. Cave roosts are usually found in dry forests and are associated with chalk and limestone outcrops. Populations of this bat are patchily distributed on the landscape, with only six known subpopulations totalling around 2,500 individuals. 

Conservation Concerns: Due to its reliance on cave habitat and limited geographic range, primary threats include deforestation and habitat fragmentation and disturbance at cave habitats. This species has also been the unintended target of vampire bat control measures, resulting in the indiscriminate destruction of cave roosts. Recent changes in Brazilian law is also leading to increased mining pressures that threaten both roost and foraging habitats. 

Additional Resources:

IUCN Redlist

Literature Cited:

Aguiar, L., Brito, D., & Machado, R. B. (2010). Do current vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) population control practices pose a threat to Dekeyser’s nectar bat’s (Lonchophylla dekeyseri) long-term persistence in the Cerrado?. Acta Chiropterologica, 12(2), 275-282.

Aguiar, L., Bernard, E., & Machado, R. B. (2014). Habitat use and movements of Glossophaga soricina and Lonchophylla dekeyseri (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in a Neotropical savannah. Zoologia (Curitiba), 31, 223-229.

Aguiar, L. & Bernard, E. 2016. Lonchophylla dekeyseri. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T12264A22038149.

Coelho, D. C., & Marinho-Filho, J. (2002). Diet and activity of Lonchophylla dekeyseri (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) in the federal district, Brazil. MAMMALIA-PARIS-, 66(3), 319-330.

Oliveira, H. F. M., Fandos, G., Zangrandi, P. L., do Nascimento Bendini, H., Cardoso, D., Silva, R. L. M., … & Domingos, F. M. C. B. (2022). Crops, caves, and bats: deforestation and mining threaten an endemic and endangered bat species (Lonchophylla: Phyllostomidae) in the Neotropical savannas. Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy, 33(2), 158-166.