Noteworthy Records of Bats From Nicaragua, With a Checklist of the Chiropteran Fauna of the Country

Part 1

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OCCASIONAL PAPERS

of the MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY --The University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas

NUMBER 2 APRIL 29, 1971

NOTEWORTHY RECORDS OF BATS FROM NICARAGUA, WITH A CHECKLIST OF THE CHIROPTERAN FAUNA OF THE COUNTRY

J. KNOX JONES, JR., JAMES DALE SMITH, RONALD W. TURNER

Nicaragua occupies a strategic position in Central America with respect to mammalian distributional patterns, but relatively little has been published concerning the fauna of the country and its zoogeographic relationships. The present paper records information on distribution, variation, and natural history of 40 species of bats from Nicaragua, 14 of which are here recorded for the first time from the country. Appended is a checklist of the chiropteran fauna of Nicaragua in which only primary literature with actual reference to specimens from the republic is cited.

The specimens upon which this report is based are, with few exceptions, in the collections of the Museum of Natural History of The University of Kansas. Some of our material was obtained in 1956 by J. R. and A. A. Alcorn, field representatives of the Museum and sponsored by the Kansas University Endowment Association; most of the specimens, however, were obtained by field parties of which we were members that worked in Nicaragua in 1964, 1966, 1967, and 1968 under the aegis of a contract (DA-49-193-MD-2215) between the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command and The University of Kansas. Place-names associated with localities mentioned in the text from which specimens at Kansas were collected are plotted on Fig. 1.

Curator, Division of Mammals, Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas.

Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, California State College, Fullerton, California.

Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, St. Benedicts College, Atchison, Kansas.

In the accounts that follow, departments in Nicaragua are listed alphabetically, but localities within each department are arranged from north to south; elevations are given in meters or feet, depending on which was used on specimen labels. All specimens are in the Museum of Natural History of The University of Kansas unless noted otherwise. We are indebted to Drs. Charles O. Handley, Jr., and Ronald Pine of the U.S. National Museum (USNM) for lending us certain critical specimens.

ACCOUNTS OF SPECIES

Saccopteryx leptura (Schreber, 1774)

Two specimens from El Paraíso, 1 km N Cosigüina, 20 m, Chinandega, on the Cosigüina Peninsula, provide the fourth locality of record for this white-lined bat in Nicaragua. Jones (1964a:506) and Davis et al. (1964:375) earlier reported a total of eight specimens from the departments of Managua and Zelaya. The species is known as far north in Middle America as Chiapas (Carter et al., 1966:489).

Our two bats, both females, were shot on the evening of 1 March 1968 as they foraged around a yard light. One carried an embryo that measured 8 mm (crown-rump), whereas the other was reproductively inactive.

Peropteryx macrotis macrotis (Wagner, 1843)

Four females (one young and three adult) captured 5 km N and 9 km E Condega, 800 m, in Madriz, on 23 June 1964, provide the first record of this small sac-winged species from Nicaragua. The bats were shot from daytime roosts in small, well-lighted, cave-like spaces formed among immense blocks of granite in a small patch of tropical deciduous forest surrounded by extensive pine-oak woodland. None of the adult females was reproductively active. Glossophaga soricina, Diphylla ecaudata, and a large nursery colony of Desmodus rotundus were found in association with the Peropteryx. Measurements of our specimens agree closely with those reported for material from El Salvador (Felten, 1955:284) and Costa Rica (Starrett and Casebeer, 1968:3-4).

Noctilio labialis labialis (Kerr, 1792)

Specimens.--Boaco: 4 km W Teustepe, 140 m, 9. Chontales: Hato Grande, 13 km S, 8 km W Juigalpa, 60 m, 49. Rivas: 4 km S, 1.5 km E Alta Gracia, 40 m, Isla de Ometepe, 1; Finca Amayo, 13 km S, 14 km E Rivas, 40 m, 4. Zelaya: S side Río Mico, El Recreo, 25 m, 1; Cara de Mono, 50 m, 2.

This species has been reported previously from Nicaragua by several authors. All our specimens were netted over small streams or shot as they foraged; parts of scarabids and lepidopterans were found in the mouths of several individuals shot at Finca Amayo. Twenty-six of 31 autopsied females taken in April were pregnant, each containing a single embryo--average crown-rump length 16.7 (5-26) mm. Testes of 15 males collected in April had an average length of 4.6 (2-7) mm, those of four taken in June, 5.2 (4-6) mm.

We follow Cabrera (1958:55), Husson (1962:63), and Handley (1966b:758) in use of the subspecific name labialis, the type locality of which is the "Mosquito shore" of Nicaragua, rather than Perú as suggested by Hershkovitz (1949:433-434).

Noctilio leporinus mexicanus Goldman, 1915

Specimens.--Chinandega: Potosí, 5 m, 2. Chontales: Hato Grande, 13 km S, 8 km W Juigalpa, 60 m, 4. Rivas: 4 km S, 1.5 km E Alta Gracia, 40 m, Isla de Ometepe, 4; Mérida, 40 m, Isla de Ometepe, 2; Finca Amayo, 13 km S, 14 km E Rivas, 40 m, 1.

This fish-eating species, first reported from Nicaragua by Davis et al. (1964:376), apparently occurs throughout Middle America, although known from the region by comparatively few records. We have 13 additional Nicaraguan specimens as listed above.

The two individuals (both females, one pregnant with an embryo that measured 20 mm) from Potosí were caught on 6 March in a mist net set over a large pool in a shallow estuarine stream; the mouth of the stream opened into the Gulf of Fonseca approximately 200 yards below our netting site. Other individuals of this species were observed as they foraged over large pools formed at high tide near the mouth of the stream. Our other specimens were caught in mist nets set over fresh water streams near Lake Nicaragua or along the shores of the lake. A female from near Alta Gracia, caught on 27 March, carried a single embryo that measured 41 mm, whereas one from Finca Amayo was lactating on 25 June. Four males taken on Isla de Ometepe in late March and early April had a mean testicular length of 9.5 (8-10) mm.

Pteronotus davyi fulvus (Thomas, 1892)

Specimens.--Chontales: Cuapa, 4. Matagalpa: 3 mi E San Ramón, 126.

Part 2

This small naked-backed bat has not been reported previously from Nicaragua. Autopsy of seven females collected on 9 May near San Ramón revealed that four were pregnant, each with a single embryo--average crown-rump length 25.0 (21-29) mm.

The distribution of P. davyi is poorly known in much of Central America. The species was reported only recently from Costa Rica (Starrett and Casebeer, 1968:8) and is unknown from Panamá. We assign our specimens tentatively to the subspecies fulvus on geographic grounds.

Pteronotus parnellii fuscus (J. A. Allen, 1911)

Specimens.--Boaco: Santa Rosa, 17 km N, 15 km E Boaco, 300 m, 1; Los Cocos, 14 km S Boaco, 220 m, 1. Chinandega: 6.5 km N, 1 km E Cosigüina, 10 m, 1. Zelaya: Bonanza, 850 ft, 1; 2 mi SW Bonanza, 600 ft, 1; S side Río Mico, El Recreo, 25 m, 1; Cara de Mono, 50 m, 4.

Although this species is widespread in Middle America, it has been known previously from Nicaragua only by a specimen from "Chontales" (Miller, 1902:402). All of our specimens were captured in mist nets. Two adult females (one taken on 28 February and the other on 8 March) each carried a single embryo (13 and 18 mm in crown-rump length, respectively); a female taken in April was lactating and had a flaccid uterus suggesting relatively recent parturition. Adult females captured in the months of June, July, and August evidenced no sign of reproductive activity. Two of these were in dark, fresh pelage, but one captured on 24 June and another on 28 July were molting. In both individuals, active molt evidently had slowed or subsided and remnants of the old pelage (rich ochraceous orange) were confined to a narrow strip at the lateral edges of the body.

We tentatively apply the subspecies name fuscus to our Nicaraguan bats on geographic grounds; one of us (Smith) currently is investigating geographic variation in the genus Pteronotus.

Pteronotus suapurensis (J. A. Allen, 1904)

Specimens.--Chontales: Cuapa, 1. Matagalpa: 3 mi E San Ramón, 24. Zelaya: Cara de Mono, 25 m, 4.

This relatively poorly known monotypic species occurs from southern Veracruz to the Amazon Basin. It has been reported from several localities in Central America including one in Nicaragua (Goodwin, 1942a:88). Three pregnant females from near San Ramón (9 May) carried embryos that had crown-rump lengths of 27, 27, and 28 mm, and two netted on 24 April at Cara de Mono each had an embryo that measured 22 mm. All of our specimens are in bright pelage that is fulvous red in color.

Micronycteris megalotis mexicana Miller, 1898

Specimens.--Carazo: 3 km N, 4 km W Diriamba, 600 m, 5. Granada: Hda. Mecatepe [2 km N, 11.5 km E Nandaime], 5. Managua: 5 mi NW Managua, 1. Matagalpa: Río Viejo, 7 mi WNW Darío, 4; 11 mi SE Darío, 1. Zelaya: S end Isla del Maíz Grande, 9.

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