Buff-throated Saltator vs Choco Yellow-shouldered Bat

Saltator maximus compared with Sturnira koopmanhilli

Key Differences

• Buff-throated Saltator is Least Concern while Choco Yellow-shouldered Bat is Data Deficient.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Buff-throated Saltator	Choco Yellow-shouldered Bat
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Passeriformes (Songbirds)	Chiroptera (Bats)
Family	Thraupidae	Phyllostomidae
Genus	Saltator	Sturnira
Species	Saltator maximus	Sturnira koopmanhilli

Evolutionary Relationship

Buff-throated Saltator and Choco Yellow-shouldered Bat share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Chordata. (Chordates)

Conservation Status

Buff-throated Saltator

LC — Least Concern

Choco Yellow-shouldered Bat

DD — Data Deficient

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Buff-throated Saltator	Choco Yellow-shouldered Bat
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Buff-throated Saltator

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Choco Yellow-shouldered Bat

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Range

Distributed across Colombia and Ecuador.

Buff-throated Saltator

A large, handsome saltator of humid forest, forest edge, and secondary woodland from Mexico through Central America and south to Bolivia and Brazil, buff-throated saltators display green upper parts with a distinctive white supercilium, black malar stripe, and warm buff throat. They are common in forest margins and gardens, producing rich, melodious warbling songs. They forage on seeds, fruit, and buds, occasionally joining mixed-species flocks. One of the most frequently observed saltators across their broad neotropical range.

Choco Yellow-shouldered Bat

The Choco Yellow-shouldered Bat (Sturnira koopmanhilli) is a medium-sized frugivorous bat in the family Phyllostomidae, endemic to the Chocó biogeographic region of northwestern South America, where it occurs in the humid forests of the Pacific slope of Colombia and adjacent Ecuador. It belongs to the genus Sturnira — the yellow-shouldered bats — characterised by males bearing distinctive yellowish, orange, or reddish shoulder glands (from which the group's name derives), robust bodies, and rounded ears. Like all Sturnira, this species is primarily frugivorous, consuming a wide range of small, soft fruits from pioneer and forest trees, and plays an important role as a seed disperser in disturbed forest patches and forest edges. The diet of Solanaceae (nightshade family) fruits is particularly typical of the genus, and Sturnira bats are considered the primary dispersers of many pioneer Solanum species in Neotropical secondary succession, contributing directly to forest regeneration. The IUCN classifies the Choco Yellow-shouldered Bat as Data Deficient, reflecting significant uncertainty about the species' distribution limits, population size, and ecological requirements. The Chocó region continues to experience rapid deforestation, which threatens frugivorous bat diversity even where individual species lack adequate data for formal threat assessment.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇨🇴 Colombia 🇪🇨 Ecuador