Vespertilionidae
Author
Don E. Wilson
Author
Russell A. Mittermeier
text
2019
2019-10-31
Lynx Edicions
Barcelona
Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats
716
981
book chapter
56755
10.5281/zenodo.6397752
45351c32-25dd-422c-bdb2-00e73deb4943
978-84-16728-19-0
6397752
207.
Yucatan
Yellow Bat
Rhogeessa aenea
French:
Rhogeessa du
Yucatan
/
German:
Yucatan-Gelbfledermaus
/
Spanish:
Rogesa
de
Yucatan
Taxonomy.
Rhogeessa parvula aeneus [sic] G. G. Goodwin, 1958
,
“Chichen Itza,
Yucatan
,”
Mexico
.
See
R. tumida
. Monotypic.
Distribution.
Yucatan Peninsula, including SE Mexico, N
Guatemala
, and N
Belize
.
Descriptive notes.
Head-body ¢.
37- 43 mm
, tail
26-36 mm
, ear
11-14 mm
, hindfoot
4-6 mm
, forearm 25-7-29-
2 mm
; weight
3-5 g
. Similar to the Northern Little Yellow Bat (
Rhogeessa parvula
), but redder. Dorsal hairs bicolored, with cinnamon-buff bases and prout’s brown tips; venter tawny olive. Ears are short and subacute at tips, and contrast little in coloration with dorsal fur. Wings blackish brown and leathery. Male has prominent glandular area at base of ear, which is related to a strong odor during breeding. Skull is small (greatest skull length of holotype 11-
9 mm
), but larger and broader than in the Northern Little Yellow Bat; zygomatic arches widely spread and braincase slightly elevated posteriorly; rostrum relatively long and flattened in interorbital region. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 32 and FN = 58, with a large and submetacentric X-chromosome and a medium-sized submetacentric Y-chromosome.
Habitat.
Tropical forests, mainly rainforests, subdeciduous forests, and deciduous forests, at elevations below
50 m
.
Food and Feeding.
Insectivorous. This speciesis a fast flier, foraging in open areas usually
2-10 m
aboveground. It has been observed flying around lights in woodland, near single trees, on forest openings, and over cenotes.
Breeding.
Two pregnant females, bearing two embryos each, were collected in May.
Activity patterns.
Echolocation search calls are short (2—4 milliseconds) and of high intensity, being repeated every c.13 or c.25 milliseconds. Pulses consist of a steep downsweep, which starts at ¢.65-75 kHz and ends in a short narrowband “tail” at ¢.40- 50 kHz; most of the energy is at 48-59 kHz. When moving from open areas to more restricted spaces, the species switches from 4-millisecond-calls with high intensity and low frequency “tail” (c.48 kHz) to 2-millisecond-calls of lower intensity and higher frequency “tail” (50-53 kHz).
Movements, Home range and Social organization.
No information.
Status and Conservation.
Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List (as
R. aeneus
). Widespread, and occurs in at least five protected areas in
Yucatan
Peninsula.
Bibliography.
Alvarez-Castafeda & Gonzalez-Ruiz (2018), Audetet al. (1993), Arroyo-Cabrales & Baker (2014a), Baird, Hillis et al. (2008, 2009), Baird, Marchan-Rivadeneira et al. (2012), Birney et al. (1974), Goodwin (1958b), Rydell et al. (2002), Simmons (2005), Solari (2019f).