The mammals of Paracou, French Guiana, a Neotropical lowland rainforest fauna. Part 1, Bats
Author
Simmons, Nancy B.
Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
Author
Voss, Robert S.
Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
text
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History
1998
1998-12-31
237
1
219
journal article
8160
10.5281/zenodo.4545052
0540f87c-c902-4df5-acd4-51801c9531bd
2246/1634/B237-0004
4545052
Micronycteris schmidtorum
Sanborn
VOUCHER MATERIAL:
2 males (AMNH *267853; MNHN *1995.818); see table 25 for measurements.
IDENTIFICATION: Characters distinguishing
Micronycteris schmidtorm
from other congeneric species were summarized in the preceding account for
M
.
brosseti
and will not be repeated here.
Ascorra et al. (1991a)
reviewed
M
.
schmidtorum
but referred some specimens to this species that we subsequent ly reidentified as either
M
.
sanborni
(Simmons, 1996b)
or
M
.
brosseti
(see above). Simmons (1996b) provided a summary of measurements of
Micronycteris schmidtorum
sensu stricto
from throughout its known geographic range. No subspecies are currently recognized (Simmons, 1996b).
Fig. 33. Roost of
Micronycteris microtis
and
Carollia perspicillata
in a partially rotted buttress of the large tree shown in figure 3. From the upper edge of the opening visible in this view (arrow), a dark chamber extended upward less than a meter. In 1991 this small cavity contained 13–14 bats, of which 8
M
.
microtis
and 2
C
.
perspicillata
were captured; 3–4 unidentified bats escaped. This roost was not revisited in subsequent years.
Although our voucher material generally agrees with previous descriptions of
Micronycteris schmidtorum
, Paracou
specimens have pale gray ventral fur rather than the pale buff venters seen in specimens from other localities. Because we did not find any other consistent differences, and because other congeners with pale ventral fur (e.g.,
M
.
brosseti
and
M
.
minuta
) exhibit similar chromatic variability, we conclude that this represents normal intraspecific variation.
In addition to characters discussed previously, we found that tibia length was helpful for distinguishing
Micronycteris schmidtorum
from sympatric species in the hand, at least at Paracou. Whereas both
M
.
schmidtorum
and
M
.
homezi
have long tibias (15.3– 15.8 mm), the lower leg is consistently short er (12.8–14.6 mm) in
M
.
brosseti
,
M
.
megalotis
,
M
.
microtis
, and
M
.
minuta
.
FIELD OBSERVATIONS: Our two examples of
Micronycteris schmidtorum
were both taken in groundlevel mistnets in welldrained primary forest.