A New Bat (Genus Myotis) From MexicoHall, E. Raymond (Eugene Raymond)
Science
A New Bat (Genus Myotis) From Mexico
Hall, E. Raymond (Eugene Raymond)
Mammals -- Mexico; Myotis
_Diagnosis._--Size medium for the genus (see measurements), tail
short; foot long; ears and membranes black; pelage long (maximum
length on middle of back 9 mm.) and black; upper parts with
overhairs tipped with whitish especially on rump; underparts
from posterior part of thorax posteriorly with all of the hairs
tipped with this same whitish color; skull with preorbital part
small in relation to brain case; teeth small in relation to
total area of palate; brain case much inflated; ventral margin
of foramen magnum evenly rounded.
_Comparison._--From _Myotis albescens_ (E. Geffroy) known to us
by specimens in the United States National Museum from Paraguay
(Tacural), Panama (Tabernilla), and Nicaragua (Prinzapolca R.
and Escondido R.), _argentatus_ differs in: Body and foot
longer; tail relatively shorter (57 and 58% of length of head
and body versus 76 (62-83)% in _albescens_); tibia shorter;
pelage longer, and black instead of brown; silver tipping of fur
on hinder back markedly more conspicuous; precranial part of
skull, when viewed from above, larger in relation to brain case;
postorbital constriction less abrupt, that is to say, skull
"longer-waisted"; occlusal surfaces of teeth of equal area and
therefore occupying a relatively smaller percentage of total
area of palatal surface; ventral margin of foramen magnum less
deeply indented; ventrally prominent part of basioccipital twice
as wide.
_Remarks._--The relatively slight wear on the teeth of the female of _M.
argentatus_ and the large ends on the bones of the wings indicate that
it is immature. Its measurements, recorded below, average smaller than
those of the adult holotype, a male, and the silvery tipping on the
upper parts is almost lacking from the pelage which is shorter than in
the holotype.
[Illustration: FIGS. 1-6. _Myotis_. From left to right, dorsal,
lateral and ventral views. All x 2.
FIGS. 1-3. _Myotis argentatus_, no. 19228, Univ. Kan. Mus. Nat.
Hist., type.
FIGS. 4-6. _Myotis albescens_, no. 105664, [F], U. S. Nat. Mus.,
from Tacuaral, Paraguay; obtained on November 13, 1900, by Wm.
T. Foster, orig. no. 128.]
Among at least American kinds of _Myotis_, _argentatus_ is extreme in
small area of occlusal surface of the upper molariform teeth in relation
to the total area of the palatal surface of the skull. _M. albescens_
previously was regarded as extreme in this feature. The distance across
the third upper molars, from the outside of one tooth to the outside of
the other, is 5.5 mm. in the holotype of _argentatus_ and 5.4 mm. in a
specimen of corresponding age and sex of _albescens_. The distance
between the third upper molars, from the lingual side of one tooth to
the lingual side of the other, is 2.9 mm. in _argentatus_ and 2.8 mm. in
_albescens_.
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