2006Bats - First Day Cover

Romfilatelia, the company specialized in issuing and trading Romanian postage stamps, introduces into circulation the postage stamp issue, Bats.

Bats are insectivore, crepuscular and nocturnal mammals of the Chiropters order. They have wings that are made of a double skin membrane binding the fingers of the anterior limbs and extending on the parts of the body to posterior limbs and tale. They guide themselves in dark by using the ultrasounds they make, their ear being capable of perceiving the echo of the waves reflected by obstacles.

Bats feed on insects, fruit, pollen, nectar, fish, frogs, blood. European bats are exclusively insectivores, counting 45 species divided into three families. Romanian bats (30 species) belong to the Rhinolophidae and Vespertilionidae families, which are part of the Micro-chiropters sub-order.

Following the degradation and the limitation of natural habitats, the excessive use of insecticides, but also because the disturbance of hibernation and reproduction places, the European bat populations have grown smaller. Bats use caves, stone clefts, hollow, rock fissures and abandoned attics as shelter. Romania, with its over 13,000 caves, is and important refugee and a population center for the bats of the South-Eastern Europe.

The following bats are illustrated on the postage stamps of this philatelic issue:

- Myotis myotis (Greater Mouse-Eared Bat), on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 0.30.

- Rhinolophus hipposideros (Lesser Horseshoe Bat), on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 0.50.

- Plecotus auritus (Brown Long-Eared Bat), on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 1.00.

- Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Scrub Bat), on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 1.20.

- Nyctalus lasiopterus (Greater Crepuscular Bat), on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 1.60.

- Barbastekka barbastellus (Snub Bat), on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 2.20.