Lesser ghost bat

The lesser ghost bat (Diclidurus scutatus) is a bat of the family Emballonuridae found in South America, in northern and southeastern Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. It is one of only six bat species worldwide with white fur; the others are the other three Diclidurus species, the Honduran white bat and the ghost bat of Australia. Wilhelm Peters described it in 1869 from a specimen that Arsene Onessim Barraquin collected in Paraguay in 1859 and sent to the Paris Museum of Natural History, and its name scutatus is Latin for shield-shaped. It has long soft white or pale brown fur and black claws, a forearm of 51 to 58.9 mm, and a weight of about 13 g; adult males have two glandular pouches on the uropatagium that become pronounced in the breeding season. It is insectivorous, flies fast at treetop height or over open water, roosts in palm leaves by day, and is more likely to be found in tropical rainforest. It is evaluated as Least Concern, with deforestation a possible threat.