Nature Field Guide
Honduran White Bat
- Spanish name
- Murciélago blanco
- Scientific name
- Ectophylla alba
What Do Pico & Tati Think?
Pico: “Those white shapes are bats under a leaf!”
Tati: “Their leaf tent is a home we leave untouched.”
Species overview
About the Honduran White Bat
The Honduran White Bat is a small pale bat that uses large leaves as daytime shelter. Groups rest beneath a leaf bent into a tent-like shape, protecting them from weather and hiding them within the understory. It is a fruit eater, not an animal that feeds on human blood.
Tirimbina research describes leaf tents in heliconias, showing how a small plant structure can become important mammal habitat. A bat colony depends on suitable shelter as well as feeding plants in the surrounding forest. Lifting a leaf or touching a roost can disturb the animals, so a guide should choose a distant viewing position and leave the tent intact.
Identification
Key Features of the Honduran White Bat
Tiny pale or white-furred bat.
Yellowish ears and nose.
May rest in groups beneath a leaf tent.
Habitat & range
Tirimbina Biological Reserve at La Virgen de Sarapiquí, Heredia.
Local observations
Tirimbina’s mammal list and published field research document Ectophylla alba in the reserve. Individual roosts change and should not be mapped as permanent viewing stops.
When to observe
Observe from authorized routes with a local guide. Activity, weather and food availability change encounters; a documented location is not a promise of a sighting.
Conservation & care
Leave leaf tents and surrounding vegetation untouched. Follow a guide’s viewing distance and light guidance; never handle bats or expose a resting group for a photograph.
Observation activity
Sketch the tent shape from a guide-approved distance. Do not lift, cut, touch or shine a bright light into an occupied leaf.
Explore by location
Caribbean · Northern Plains · Heredia · La Virgen (Sarapiquí)