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Description
Common Cave-crawler bat

(Nanospelaeus repens)

Habitat: Caves

Length: 7cm

Weight: 10-12g

Food: Insects

Breeding: 1-3 offspring

Lifespan: Unknown

Status: Common

The Cave-crawler bats, or Cave-crawlers, (Nanospelaeus) are a genus of flightless bats native to the cave systems of Skull Island. They are voracious insectivores that crawl along the cave walls, hence their name, in order to pursue prey. Despite their resemblance to European microbats such as the Noctules*, they are instead believed to be descended from a Madagascan ancestor that crossed the ocean to Skull Island.

This species was best described by expedition leader, Serenity Parker:

Nanospelaeus repens is one of Skull Island's many insectivorous bat species. Unlike most cave dwelling bats, however, Nanospelaeus has sacrificed its flying ability and instead prowls the walls of the cave for centipedes, spiders, and other arthropod prey. At full size these tiny mammals are only 7cm long. They make up for their miniscule size with their highly efficient bites. The jaws are lined with teeth much like those of most bats, what makes them such effecient insect eaters is how quickly they can bite. A centipede of similar length to the bat can be chewed through in seconds. Larger bats are careful when hunting Nanospelaeus since their potent bites can destroy wings and leave horrible wounds on the faces of their attackers. The body of this species is compact with moderately sized forelimbs with heavily reduced wing membranes and stubby but muscular hindlimbs. The body is sparsely coated with light brown hairs which do little to hide the pinkish skin underneath. The tail is reduced, as in most bats. The head is quite conventional aside from reduced ear size and eyes nearly twice as big as other bats. It has been hypothesized that these flightless bats have lost their ability to echolochate and instead rely entirely on their eyesight to find prey or spot predators. Little is known about their reproduction aside from litter size. A healthy female gives birth to 1-3 offspring at a time and will abandon them very shortly after birth. Another distinguishing feature of these bats over other species is that they have remarkably slow metabolisms, comparable to that of most lizard predators. Since they spend all of their lives within caves, they get energy by clinging to the cave wall and waiting for rising heat from geothermal vents deeper in the caves.

Expedition member, Tim Morris also discovered a currently unnamed species of Nanospelaeus: skullislandreborn.deviantart.c…

*These are the bats I based the design off of.

Another 'artless animal' for SIR.

Description
Common Cave-crawler bat

(Nanospelaeus repens)

Habitat: Caves

Length: 7cm

Weight: 10-12g

Food: Insects

Breeding: 1-3 offspring

Lifespan: Unknown

Status: Common

The Cave-crawler bats, or Cave-crawlers, (Nanospelaeus) are a genus of flightless bats native to the cave systems of Skull Island. They are voracious insectivores that crawl along the cave walls, hence their name, in order to pursue prey. Despite their resemblance to European microbats such as the Noctules*, they are instead believed to be descended from a Madagascan ancestor that crossed the ocean to Skull Island.

This species was best described by expedition leader, Serenity Parker:

Nanospelaeus repens is one of Skull Island's many insectivorous bat species. Unlike most cave dwelling bats, however, Nanospelaeus has sacrificed its flying ability and instead prowls the walls of the cave for centipedes, spiders, and other arthropod prey. At full size these tiny mammals are only 7cm long. They make up for their miniscule size with their highly efficient bites. The jaws are lined with teeth much like those of most bats, what makes them such effecient insect eaters is how quickly they can bite. A centipede of similar length to the bat can be chewed through in seconds. Larger bats are careful when hunting Nanospelaeus since their potent bites can destroy wings and leave horrible wounds on the faces of their attackers. The body of this species is compact with moderately sized forelimbs with heavily reduced wing membranes and stubby but muscular hindlimbs. The body is sparsely coated with light brown hairs which do little to hide the pinkish skin underneath. The tail is reduced, as in most bats. The head is quite conventional aside from reduced ear size and eyes nearly twice as big as other bats. It has been hypothesized that these flightless bats have lost their ability to echolochate and instead rely entirely on their eyesight to find prey or spot predators. Little is known about their reproduction aside from litter size. A healthy female gives birth to 1-3 offspring at a time and will abandon them very shortly after birth. Another distinguishing feature of these bats over other species is that they have remarkably slow metabolisms, comparable to that of most lizard predators. Since they spend all of their lives within caves, they get energy by clinging to the cave wall and waiting for rising heat from geothermal vents deeper in the caves.

Expedition member, Tim Morris also discovered a currently unnamed species of Nanospelaeus: skullislandreborn.deviantart.c…

*These are the bats I based the design off of.

Another 'artless animal' for SIR.