Search

We characterize the bat fauna of forested sites in the municipality of Domingos Martins, Espírito Santo state, southeastern Brazil, and update the list of bat species of the state. We conducted a rapid inventory using ground-level mist nets (27,000 m²·h effort) and occasional roost searching, which resulted in a list of 23 species belonging to Phyllostomidae (18 species), Vespertilionidae (3), and Molossidae (2). We report the first record of Molossops neglectus Williams & Genoways, 1980 and Myotis lavali Moratelli, Peracchi, Dias & Oliveira, 2011 from Espírito Santo, bringing the total number of confirmed species in the state to 86. The molossid Nyctinomops laticaudatus (É. Geoffroy, 1805) was exclusively recorded in its diurnal roost in rocky outcrops. Our study fills knowledge gaps in the distribution of bat species in southeastern Brazil, and more specifically in the highly diverse coastal Atlantic Forest of Espírito Santo. These data reinforce the importance of continuously inventorying and documenting bats in the Neotropics.

Specimens of the Neotropical dog-faced bats of the genus Cynomops Thomas, 1920 are poorly represented in museum collections, and the geographical distributions of the eight species are not well known. We report voucher specimens that confirm the presence of C. greenhalli Goodwin, 1958 in the Tropical Wet Forest of Costa Rica. These specimens represent an extension of the distribution into the Caribbean Central America.

Carollia has a complex taxonomic history and is widely distributed in the Neotropics. Species of Carollia appear to have differentiated recently in the late Cenozoic, and present overlapping morphological characters that may not be useful to distinguish among species. Carollia has recently been revised, but only a few specimens representing the Brazilian distribution of Carollia within Brazil were studied. We reviewed specimens of Carollia distributed in several localities of Brazil revisiting previously described morphological characters for species identification, and taxonomic problems within the genus. We found a large degree of overlap between characters previously used to distinguish among species of Carollia, and some of them constitute variation within a same species. We also report new records extending the known distribution of C. benkeithi to farther east of its previously known distribution (Parauapebas, southeastern Pará, and Vitória do Xingu, Pará, eastern Amazonian Brazil) and one record extending the distribution of C. brevicauda south to Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

Eumops maurus and Eumops hansae are rarely captured Neotropical molossid bats for which information on taxonomy, natural history, and spatial distribution are scarce. This translates into a poor understanding of their ecology and limits the delimitation of useful characters for their identification. Here, we describe records of these two molossids from the Central Brazilian Amazon, providing data on their external and craniodental morphology, DNA barcode (COI) sequences complemented by acoustic data for the species. Morphological characters, DNA sequence data and phylogenetic relationships within the genus Eumops were consistent with those previously described for both species. Echolocation call characteristics did not differ significantly so as to be useful for separating E. maurus and E. hansae from other congeners. Our records are, respectively the first and the second for Central Amazonia as one individual previously attributed to Eumops amazonicus from Manaus may be considered a junior synonym for E. hansae. These new records increase the extent of the species’ known ranges, partially filling in previous existing gaps in their distribution in central South America. Our data further suggest that these molossid bats forage in a wider range of habitats than previously thought.