New Zealand Greater Short-tailed Bat
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| Mystacina robusta (Dwyer, 1962) |
The greater short-tailed bat (Mystacina robusta) was one of only two species of short-tailed bats, a family (Mystacinidae) unique to New Zealand. It lived on the North and South Islands in prehistoric times and historically lived on small islands off Stewart Island. Short-tailed bats are as adept at scrambling along the ground as they are at flying. Their wings fold into pouches on the sides of their bodies, so the bats can race through burrows or scrub.
The greater short-tailed bat was widespread throughout New Zealand before the Māori arrived. In historic times, it used seabird burrows as roosts. It flew slowly, never rising more than two or three metres above the ground. It took nectar from flowering plants and was probably partly carnivorous, taking meat and fat off muttonbirds and eating nestling birds. The last refuges of the bat were on Solomon and Big South Cape islands, but black rats arrived from fishing vessels in 1962 or 1963. The last bat seen was caught in a mist net on Solomon Island in April 1965.
[edit] References
- Chiroptera Specialist Group (1996). Mystacina robusta. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 06 May 2006.
- A Gap in Nature by Tim Flannery and Peter Schouten (2001), published by William Heinemann
