Picking an (internationally familiar) Australian endemic bushtucker was easy, picking a bat to pair with it was less so, since we are blessed with #bat #biodiversity but I settled on an Ozimops as more the world needs more #molossid art.

New week, new bat species.

Nyctinomops mbopicuare, a molossid (free-tailed bat) from Argentina

Paper by Barquez et al: https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jmammal/gyad040/7218965

I met one of these guys in Malaysia in 2001! Typically molossid in having a sweetheart personality!

🦇How do insect-eating bats catch prey mid-flight? South American molossid bats have specialized tongue structures, including sensory papillae + nerve-rich tissues that detect, manipulate & retain insects during aerial capture
Rodriguez et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

IOB
"We characterize the wing shape and size of a molossid #bat assemblage of six species from the humid Chaco region of northeastern Argentina..."
from
M A Argoitia et al
doi.org/10.1093/iob/...

#morphology #foraging #science #biologists #science #PhD #academic #journal #ecology

IOB fresh Ink!

Wing #Morphology, #Foraging Strategies, and Flight Performance in Six Sympatric #Species of Molossid #Bats (Chiroptera: Molossidae) from #Argentina

M A Argoitia et al

doi.org/10.1093/iob/...

#science #biology #organisms #morphologists #scientists #biologists

Catching up on my bat virome reading - virus shedding associated with parturition and juveniles is a major factor in a lot of bat virus epidemiology (not just henipaviruses)...

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Get to know IOB author
M. A. Argoitia Musio Argentino
www.researchgate.net/profile/Mari...
co author on
doi.org/10.1093/iob/...
(@)antoargoitia on Insta
ri.conicet.gov.ar/author/93114

#morphology #bats #ecology #biology #science #Molossid #species #scientists

Watch this interview with the lead author on

Wing #Morphology, Foraging Strategies, and Flight Performance in Six Sympatric Species of Molossid #Bats from Argentina
M A Argoitia et al

doi.org/10.1093/iob/...

Argoitia's YouTube

youtube.com/shorts/czTvH...

#science #biology

🦇If you are going to go down the Star Trek path - we must also talk about the Ferengi-bats (Nyctinomops macrotis has amazing lobes) - a trait shared by many of the molossids...

last night’s bat haul from the Karri forests of WA, the prolific white-striped free-tailed bat (hardly even needed a detector (and my first molossid)) and the aptly named southern forest bat :)

IOB
"Considering that wing shape and size are good indicators of #ecological and #behavioral traits, we analyze the #morphological variation using #geometric #morphometric tools..."
M A Argoitia et al
doi.org/10.1093/iob/...

#bats #morphology

Pavé et al. 2025
Halloween day! a molossid bat trapped in a communal spider web in the Paraná flooded savanna of eastern Argentina

This study reports the first known case of a subadult female mastiff bat being trapped in a spider web of Parawixia bistriata in Argentina, for three days.

Just published: Synchronicity of #coronavirus, #paramyxovirus and #astrovirus shedding in molossid #bat maternity colonies.Congrats to @Ax_hoarau @MuDietrich @movintoparadise @ombalahibemaso @CamLebarbenchon & collab. #VIROPTERE

doi.org/10.1017/S09502…

Expanding the knowledge of the bat fauna of the Brazilian Caatinga: new geographical records of molossid bats (Chiroptera, Molossidae) for the Chapada Diamantina region, with taxonomic notes https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39246420/