Among the lianas and bromeliads of Mesoamerican and Andean rainforests, the tiny, elusive Dark Long-tongued Bat flies. Instead of roosting in caves, it spends the day hanging beneath foliage or in hollows next to fallen logs near streams.
It is a specialised pollinator of unconventional plants, including a liana with strange flowers and an epiphytic cactus that blooms at night. Its reproductive biology includes a surprising fact: embryos can weigh up to 30% of the mother's body weight, an extraordinary burden for such a small animal.
Despite its wide distribution, it is a species rarely detected in surveys due to its natural rarity.
The Dark Long-tongued Bat is a very small bat, with a forearm 30-36 mm long and weighing just 6-11 g. It has the elongated muzzle typical of nectarivores, with tricolour dorsal fur and a characteristic dark basal stripe. It is distinguished from other glossophagine bats such as Choeroniscus godmani and Hylonycteris underwoodi by the number of upper molars and the fur colouring pattern, although reliable field separation usually requires examination in the hand.
Sonograms and echolocation: No sufficiently reliable published acoustic parameters are available to describe its call diagnostically in this format. Like other small nectarivorous phyllostomids, a broadband, low-intensity pulse is expected, difficult to separate acoustically from other sympatric glossophagine bats. The most reliable physical sign of its presence is gnaw marks at the base of visited liana or cactus flowers, rather than any acoustic or ground track evidence.
It inhabits primary growth forest and, to a lesser extent, secondary habitats and savannas. Its range extends from southern Chiapas in Mexico throughout Central America. It reaches the Amazon basin and the Andean slopes of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, up to about 1000 m in altitude.
It feeds on nectar, pollen, and insects, acting as a pollinator of Marcgravia lianas, Vriesea bromeliads, and the epiphytic cactus Weberocereus tunilla, among other plants.
It uses foliage as a day roost, as well as crevices under fallen logs near streams, especially during seasonal migratory movements in Costa Rica. Reproduction is concentrated in the Neotropical dry season. It is strictly nocturnal.
The Dark Long-tongued Bat has a wide distribution and is present in numerous protected areas, although it is naturally uncommon where it occurs. In Ecuador, its national red list considers it vulnerable despite its favourable global category.
Deforestation and forest habitat fragmentation are the main identified threats to the species.
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