Carollia
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| Carollia | ||||||||||||
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Carollia benkeithi |
Carollia is a genus of bats often referred to as the short-tailed fruit bats. Along with the genus Rhinophylla, Carollia makes up the subfamily Carolliinae of family Phyllostomidae, the leaf-nosed bats. Currently, nine species of Carollia are recognized, with a number having been described since 2002. Members of this genus are found throughout tropical regions of Central and South America but do not occur on Caribbean islands other than Trinidad and Tobago. Bats of the genus Carollia often are among the most abundant mammals in Neotropical ecosystems and play important roles as seed dispersers, particularly of pioneer plants such as those of the genera Piper, Cecropia, Solanum, and Vismia.
