What bat has the longest tongue relative to its body length?

The bat with the longest tongue relative to its body length is the tube-lipped nectar bat, Anoura fistulata. Its tongue can extend about 8.5 centimeters—roughly 150% of the bat’s body length.

This remarkable adaptation helps the Ecuadorian bat reach nectar deep inside long tubular flowers. One important food plant is Centropogon nigricans, whose corollas measure about 8–9 centimeters. The bat’s tongue and the flower appear to be closely matched, a striking example of specialization between a pollinator and a plant.

When not feeding, much of the tongue retracts into the bat’s thoracic cavity, near the sternum. The species also has a distinctive lower lip that projects beyond the upper lip and rolls into a funnel-like tube; the exact function of that tube-lip is still uncertain.

The tube-lipped nectar bat was formally described in 2005. It is not simply a large bat with a long tongue: the record concerns tongue length relative to body size, which is why ordinary fruit bats or vampire bats do not fit the clue.