Tube-lipped nectar bat

The tube-lipped nectar bat (Anoura fistulata) is a bat of the family Phyllostomidae, described as a new species in 2005 from the Andes of Ecuador. It is best known for its tongue, which at 8.5 cm is the longest relative to body size of any mammal, about one and a half times its body length; when at rest the base of the tongue lies within the rib cage, between the sternum and the trachea, an arrangement that pangolins and the giant anteater have also reached by convergent evolution. The species name fistulata comes from the Latin fistula, meaning tube, and refers to the lower lip, which extends 3.3 to 4.8 mm beyond the upper lip and is rolled into a funnel; its function is unknown. The bat drinks nectar but also eats pollen and insects, which its short jaw allows, and it is the only pollinator of the plant Centropogon nigricans, whose flowers have corollas 80 to 90 mm long. The IUCN Red List lists it as Data Deficient.