Noteworthy Records of Bats From Nicaragua, with a Checklist of the Chiropteran Fauna of the Country — John Shaqi
Noteworthy Records of Bats From Nicaragua, with a Checklist of the Chiropteran Fauna of the CountryJones, J. Knox
Science
Noteworthy Records of Bats From Nicaragua, with a Checklist of the Chiropteran Fauna of the Country
Jones, J. Knox
Bats -- Nicaragua
The subspecies _mexicana_ has not been reported previously from
Nicaragua, although Gardner _et al._ (1970:715) recently extended its
known distribution southward from Honduras (Goodwin, 1942c:124) and El
Salvador (Felten, 1956:180) to west-central Costa Rica. In Nicaragua,
as apparently in Costa Rica, _mexicana_ occupies the Pacific versant,
the Caribbean lowlands being inhabited by the smaller race,
_Micronycteris megalotis microtis_ Miller, 1898 (type locality,
Greytown, Nicaragua--reported also from "Río Coco," Nicaragua, by J. A.
Allen, 1910:110). Nicaraguan examples of _M. m. mexicana_ are, on the
average, considerably larger in cranial dimensions and length of
forearm than are specimens of _M. m. microtis_ (see Table 1). The
series of _microtis_ from "Río Coco," probably from the headwaters of
that stream in the vicinity of San Juan de Río Coco and thus near the
divide between Caribbean and Pacific drainages, is intermediate in size
between the two subspecies and suggests intergradation between them. As
noted also by Gardner _et al._ (1970:715), we find no differences in
length of ear between _microtis_ and _mexicana_ (contrary to Miller's
claim, in the original description, that _microtis_ had noticeably
smaller ears), nor do we note any consistent differences in color
between the two races on the basis of the specimens at hand.
Our specimens from Isla del Maíz Grande inexplicably agree rather
closely in size (average but slightly smaller) with specimens of _M. m.
mexicana_ from western Nicaragua and elsewhere within the range of the
subspecies, and are tentatively, therefore, referred to _mexicana_.
Four specimens earlier reported (G. M. Allen, 1929:130) from the same
island also are relatively large (forearm 35 mm). Further commentary on
this insular population must await a time when additional material is
available from Central America.
Tonatia nicaraguae Goodwin, 1942
_Specimens._--_Boaco_: Santa Rosa, 17 km N, 15 km E Boaco, 300 m,
1. _Chontales_: Hato Grande, 13 km S, 8 km W Juigalpa, 60 m, 1.
Only four specimens of this seemingly rare species have been recorded
previously from Nicaragua--one (the holotype) from Kanawa Creek, near
Cukra, north of Bluefields, 100 ft, Zelaya (Goodwin, 1942b:205),
another from 12.5 mi. S and 13 mi. E Rivas, 125 ft, Rivas (Davis and
Carter, 1962:67-68), and two from 6 km N Tuma, 500 m, Matagalpa (Valdez
and LaVal, 1971:248). Our specimens were caught in mist nets placed
over small, quiet streams that were fringed with tall, gallery forest.
The surrounding areas were savanna-like with small stands of secondary
forest. An adult male taken on 21 April had testes that measured 5 mm
in length, whereas those of another (9 August) were 3 mm.
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