Tailed tailless bat

The tailed tailless bat, Anoura caudifer, is a small leaf-nosed bat from South America. It was first described by Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1818, and its scientific name is written either caudifer or caudifera depending on how authors read Latin grammar and the zoological naming rules. Its common name is a joke of sorts, since it belongs to the genus of tailless bats yet normally has a very short tail of 3 to 7 millimetres embedded in the membrane between its legs. The bat measures 4.7 to 7.0 centimetres in head and body length and weighs 8.5 to 13 grams, with silky dark brown fur and a long narrow head with a tongue that can extend up to 3 centimetres. It lives in tropical forests on both sides of the Andes up to 1,500 metres, from Colombia and Venezuela to Bolivia, Brazil and northern Argentina. It is nocturnal, roosts in caves, tree hollows and some buildings, and is omnivorous, lapping nectar and also eating small insects.