Emballonura semicaudata semicaudata

Emballonura semicaudata semicaudata NatureServe Explorer Species Reports — NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and Canada. NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.

ITIS Reports — ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.

FWS Digital Media Library — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video. Emballonura semicaudata occurs in the southwestern Pacific and populations on many islands have declined or disappeared. One subspecies (E. semicaudata rotensis) occurs in the Northern Mariana Islands, where it has been extirpated from all but 1 island (Aguiguan). The Pacific sheath-tailed bat or Polynesian sheath-tailed bat is a species of sac-winged bat in the family Emballonuridae found in American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Micronesia, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu. Its natural habitat is caves. In 2013, Bat Conservation International listed this species as one of the 35 species of its worldwide priority list of conservation. It is threatened by habitat loss. There are estimated to be approximately 500 individuals of E. s. rotensis, a subspecies of the highly fragmented Emballonura semicaudata. Due to its dependence on forests and caves for roosting, it is known to roost in only three caves currently, E. s. rotensis is vulnerable to changes in the surrounding demographic and environmental changes reflective of indirect impacts caused by invasive species, in this case goats. Goats limit the carrying capacity of E.s. rotensis.