Anoura is a genus of leaf-nosed bats from Central and South America. Anoura members lack or have a short tail, and are nectarivorous bats of small to medium size among the Phyllostomidae.

Etymology

The genus Anoura was described in 1838 by British zoologist John Edward Gray. The type species for the genus was the Geoffroy's tailless bat, Anoura geoffroyi. The etymology of the genus name Anoura corresponds to the two ancient greek words, expressing the "absence" (this prefix is an alpha privative), and , meaning "animal tail". It refers to the tailless character of these bats. Note that Anoura, the bat genus, should not be confused with neither 'Anura', an order of amphibians, nor 'Anoures', the original spelling of this order.

Description

Anoura species are small, with head and body lengths ranging from 50-90 mm. Forearm lengths for the genus are 34-48 mm. They either totally lack tails or have very short tails of 3-7 mm. They have elongated snouts, as is seen in Glossophaga bat species. Similar again to Glossophaga, these species have tongues with lingual papillae.

Biology

Anoura species consume nectar, pollen, and insects.

Systematics