A large carnivorous bat of tropical forests in Central America and northern South America.
It has large rounded ears, an elongated skull, and a small pointed nose leaf.
Researchers radio-tracked a spectral bat in lowland dry forest in southern Nicaragua in 2017. One tagged female moved 720 m east from her capture site to a roost. The roost was a cavity 12.5 m above ground in a 27-m-tall tree about 66.5 cm in diameter; three spectral bats were found inside.
Feces from the communal roost revealed 27 vertebrate prey species, including birds, rodents and other bats. They included species associated with mature forest and forest edges, indicating varied foraging. The authors said a 2.4 km gap between their localities suggests a home range larger than the reported 3.2 ha, though few locations make this an inference. With one tracked bat and one roost, the study highlights large cavity-bearing trees and mature forest patches as relevant habitat.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
At one communal roost in Nicaragua, three spectral bats occupied a cavity in a large tree; fecal samples also revealed prey associated with mature forest and forest edges. The authors identify large trees and remaining mature-forest patches as relevant to roosting and prey. This local evidence does not estimate population size or establish formal status for the species as a whole.