74 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 75 



Ectophylla alba 

 Caribbean White Bat 



Caribbean white bats occur only from Honduras to Panama ^Fig. 57 j. Ecto- 

 phylla alba is a monot\'pic species. 



White bats are hmited to the Caribbean lowlands of Central America, where 

 they occur in primary and old second-growth forests interspersed with Heliconia 

 fTimm 1982 j. Ectophylla is one of the most distinctively colored bats; it is bright 

 white Vv'ith darker wings and bright orange-yellow ears and nose leaf. It is one 

 of the few species of bats that actively alters the shape of leaves to create diurnal 

 roosting sites. Ectophylla se\'ers the side ner\-es and interconnected tissues on both 

 Heliconia and Calathea from near the base to near the tip of the leaf causing the 

 sides of the leaf to droop TBrooke 1987b: Timm 1982; Timm and Mortimer 1976;. 

 The roosting bats hang from the midrib of the leaf and are protected from predators 

 and weather by their roosting structure, which has been termed a ""tent." Brooke 

 ri987bj reported that occupied tents typically contained four to eight roosting bats 

 and that some tents were used only as night feeding roosts and others only as diur- 

 nal roosts. She found the birth of young to be highly synchronous, occurring m 

 the latter half of April. Ectophylla alba is frugivorous; Brooke found fruit pulp 

 and seeds from the small understory fig. Eicus columbrinae . under noctural feeding 

 roosts. Several additional aspects of the biology of E. alba have been investigated 

 at La Selva fBrooke 1987b; Greenbaum et al. 1975; LaVal and Fitch 1977; Timm 

 1982 j. The species is now known from a total of 12 localities, but only those at 

 La Selva and the adjoining Braulio Carrillo and at Parque Nacional Tortuguero 

 are in reserves where there is assurance that their habitat will be protected. 



Fig. 57. Caribbean white bat. Ectophylla alba. Photo by B. L. Clauson. 



