258 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF THE UNITED STATES 



Family i. Phyllostomidae. — American leaf-nosed or vampire 

 bats. Nose usually with a nose-leaf; tragus present; wing membrane 

 reaching to the ankle; tail usually long, extending beyond the inter- 

 femoral membrane; lower lip cleft: about 50 genera, all South and 

 Central American, 3 species occurring along the southern border of the 

 United States. The family includes the large fruit-eating vampire of 

 South America {Vampyrus spectrum), whose horrid aspect has given it 

 the undeserved reputation of being a blood-sucker. The true blood- 

 sucking bats of South America are of small size and belong to the genera 

 Desmodus and Diphylla of this family. 



1. Mormoops Leach. Crown of head greatly elevated above face ; 

 dentition 2/2, i/i, 2/3, 3/3; nose-leaf absent: 2 species, i in the United 

 States. 



M. megalophylla senicula Rehn. Body brown in color; length 90 

 mm,; tail 28 mm.; forearm 56 mm,: southern Texas to Ecuador. 



2. Macrotus Gray. Dentition 2/2, i/i, 2/3, 3/3; head elongate; 

 nose-leaf simple: 4 species, i in the United States. 



M. calif ornicus Baird (Fig. 148). Body pale brownish gray in 

 color; length 88 mm. ; tail 2)2) n^ni- \ ears very large : arid regions of south- 

 western United States and of Mexico, 



3. Artibeus Leach, Dentition 2/2, i/i, 2/2, 2/3 or 3/3; nose-leaf 

 well developed; no external tail: 9 species, i in the United States^ 



A. jamaicensis parvipes Rehn. Body brown or gray in color; 

 length 70 mm.; forearm 52 mm.: West Indies and Central America, 

 occasionally in Florida. 



Family 2. Vespertilionidae. — Mostly small bats with a large 

 tragus and a long tail which is either entirely or mostly enclosed in the 

 interfemoral membrane; no nose-leaf; molars with distinct W-shaped 

 cusps; bony palate defective: 260 species, of cosmopolitan distribution, 

 including, with a few exceptions, all of the bats occurring in the United 

 States; 2 subfamilies. 



Key to the United States Subfamilies of Vespertilionidae 



ai Lower incisors 6; snout without ridge i. Vespertilionina:. 



a.2 Lower incisors 4; horseshoe-shaped ridge on snout 2. Nyctophilina. 



Subfamily i. Vespertilionina. Bats with a simple snout and nos- 

 trils, with 6 lower incisors and ears usually not joined in front : over 20 

 American species. 



Key to the United States Genera of Vespertilioninae 



ai Ears not united in front. 



b] Upper incisors 4 (both sides) (Fig. 149). 



