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Concept
Vampire bat
Summary
Vampire bats, members of the subfamily Desmodontinae, are leaf-nosed bats currently found in Central and South America. Their food source is the blood of other animals, a dietary trait called hematophagy. Three extant bat species feed solely on blood: the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata), and the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi). Two extinct species of the genus Desmodus have been found in North America.
Due to differences among the three species, each has been placed within a different genus, each consisting of one extant species. In the older literature, these three genera were placed within a family of their own, Desmodontidae, but taxonomists have now grouped them as a subfamily, Desmodontinae, in the New World leaf-nosed bat family, Phyllostomidae.
The three known species of vampire bats all seem more similar to one another than to any other species. That suggests that hematophagy evolved only once, and the three species share this common ancestor.
The placement of the three genera of the subfamily Desmodontinae within the New World leaf-nosed bat family Phyllostomidae Gray, 1825, may be summarized as:
subfamily Desmodontinae
genus Desmodus
Desmodus archaeodaptes, extinct,
Desmodus draculae, extinct,
Desmodus rotundus,
Desmodus stocki, extinct.
genus Diphylla
Diphylla ecaudata
genus Diaemus
Diaemus youngi
Vampire bats are in a diverse family of bats that consume many food sources, including nectar, pollen, insects, fruit and meat.
The three species of vampire bats are the only mammals that have evolved to feed exclusively on blood (hematophagy) as micropredators, a strategy within parasitism.
Hematophagy is uncommon due to the number of challenges to overcome for success: a large volume of liquid potentially overwhelming the kidneys and bladder, the risk of iron poisoning, and coping with excess protein.
There are multiple hypotheses for how vampire bats evolved.
Official source
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