Paratriaenops furcula (Trouessart, 1906)

Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2019, Rhinonycteridae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 194-209 : 209

8.

Trouessart’s Trident Bat

Paratriaenops furcula

French: Ti aenops deTrouessartl German: Trouessan Dieizahnblartnase I Spanish: Rinonicteno deTrouessart

Taxonomy. Tfiaenops fiımıla Trouessart, 1906 ,

“Grotte de Sarondrana (baie Saint-Augustin), cote Ouest de Madagascar [St. Augustine Bay, east coast of Madagascar].

Widely used specific epithet ƒumdus has been replaced by the original epithet jinrula because it is a noun in apposition and does not need to be changed. Monotypic.

Distribution. Endemic to Madagascar, where occurs in a narrow belt along most of W coast.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 50-60 mm, tail 19-27 mm, forearm 4249 mm, ear 15-20 mm; weight 3-9 g. No specific data are available for hindfoot length. Trouessarfs Trident Bat is small. Pelage has slightly darker tinge dorsally than ventrally, it is gray, grayish brown. dull brown, or occasionally pale yellowish gray. \Ming membranes are dark brown, and ears and noseleaf are pale gray or grayish brown. Noseleaf is large (width 6-5-8-1 mm), narrow, and rounded, with straplike, longitudinal, and anteriorly deeply bifurcated projection across anterior part of anterior leaf, above deep anterior medial emargination. Three tall pointed projections are present on posterior part of posterior leaf, and anterior part has in medial position short, laterally flattened, slightly upward directed projection. Total width of three posterior projections is almost entire width of posterior leaf. Posterior noseleaf is scalloped by numerous cells, small and more or les equal in size, arranged in two transversal rows, separated from each other by fleshy septa, except central pair of cells of posterior row that are separated by incomplete septum. Tall posterior projections are not emarginated at their bases. There are no lateral supplementary leaflets, but thickened ridge is beneath margin of anterior noseleaf. Ears are large and pointed, with anterior margin evenly rounded. Skull has laterally and dorsally very prominent nasal swellings. Braincase is slightly higher than rostrum, and there is depression between rostrum and braincase, with low but long sagittal crest. Wide plates are present on dorsal sides of zygomatic bones. Greatest skull lengths are 15-9-18 mm, condylo-canine lengths are 14-1-15-5 mm, zygomatic widths are 8-9 mm, and upper tooth row (C'-M‘) lengths are 5 -6-6-3 mm. I’ is bilobed; C' is slender, with slight cingulum; posterior secondary cusp is represented lather as a ridge extending one-third the crown height; P’ is small and extruded; C‘ and P‘ are in or nearly in contact; and M’ is only little reduced, with metacone. is bicuspid, 12 is tricuspid and larger than Il, C, is slender, P? has about twothirds crown area and one-half height of P‘, and M‘ is unreduced. Baculum is simple, very narrow, and 1 -5-1 -9 mm long, with pointed distal tip and broad and triangular proximal epiphysis; baculum widths are 0-2-0-5 mm (c.l 4—27% of baculum length).

Habitat. Coastal lowland dry forests from sea level to elevations of c. l 40 m. Trouessart`s Trident Bats most frequently occupy dry deciduous forest limestone karst; however, they are found in numerous other dry vegetation fonnations on limestone karst (dry open palm savanna and spiny bush), dry vegetation on sand (original, transitional, disturbed, and degraded dry deciduous forests and original and disturbed spiny bush), and other local types of forests (e.g. gallery forests).

Food and Feeding. Considering its diet composition, Trouessart`s Trident Bat is most probably an aerial hawker, preying on flying insects of various sizes among vegetation. lndividuals were documented foraging in various forest habitats, most frequently in riparian forests and forest interiors and only occasionally at forest edges or forest clearings. Generally, dietary spectrum is narrow, with moths reportedly the most frequent prey item. Besides moths (on average 58-7%), beetles (21 -4%), bugs (7-5 %), cockroaches (4-2%), and flies (1 -7%) were also present in feces. Diets varied between seasons: dry season diets had c.64% moths, 12% beetles, 6% bugs, 1 % cockroaches, and 1 % flies, and wet season diets had c.22%, 52% beetles, 7% bugs, 13% cockroaches, and % flies.

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Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Trouessart's Trident Bats probably do not enter torpor or hibernate. They forage among vegetation at various heights aboveground. They leave day roosts around sunset and remain active for the entire night. Three hours after sunset, they begin to return to roosts and around midnight, flight activity increases and continues until almost dawn. Males return to roosts much earlier than females, many of which return just before dawn. Trouessart`s Trident Bat roosts in natural caves, common in its preferred karst regions. Besides caves and perhaps other underground spaces, hollows in trees and tree branches (e.g. in baobabs, Adansonía , Malvaceae ) probably serve as day roosts. Echolocation consists of multiharrnonic QCF calls where pulse is composed of long CF component, complemented at start and end by two short FM components (FM-CF-FM). lnitial FM component has very small upward sweep; terminating FM component has steep sweep of c. 18 kHz. Peak frequencies are lower in females than males. Calls last 8 -1 -22-5 milliseconds; interpulse intervals are 13-9-92-7 milliseconds; CF component maximum frequencies are 11-9-116 -8 kHz (mean 114 -8 kHz) in males and 98 -1 -102 -3 kHz (mean 99 -5 kHz) in females; CF component minimum frequencies are 106-8-113 kHz (mean 110 -5 kHz) in males and 91 -4-99 -4 kHz (mean 95 -7 kHz) in females; and end frequencies are 68-97 kHz (mean 81 -5 kHz). Remains of this species were found in small amounts of the diet of the bat hawk (Mruheiramphus alcinus).

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Trouessarfs Trident Bats roost in rather large colonies; largest colony recorded, composed of both sexes, was estimated at c. lo,ooo individuals.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Rai List. Trouessan`s Trident Bars could be threatened locally by disturbance at cave sites and from deforestation and forest fragmentation.

Bibliography. Goodman (2011), Goodman à Ramvo (2008). Goodman, Andrialidison et al (2005), Goodman, Razakaratrimo à de Roland (2016). Hill (1982a). Kofoky er al (2009), Olsson er al (2006). Peterson et al (1995), Rakotoarivelo et al (2007). Rakotondramanana à Goodman (2017). Ramasindrazana et a! (2013), Fianivo à Goodman (2006). Trouessart (1906)

Figures

1. Orange Diamond-faced Bat (Rhmonícteris aurantia), 2. Persian Trident Bat (Triaenops persicus), 3. Yemeni Trident Bat (Tnaenops paruus), 4. African Trident Bat (Triaenops afer), 5. Rufous Trident Bat (Triaenops menamena), 6. Percival`s Trident Bat (Cloeotis pemivali), 7. Grandidiefs Trident Bat (Paratnaenops auritus), 8. Trouessart’s Trident Bat (Paratriaenops furcula), 9. Paulian ’ Trident Bat s (Paratriaenops pauliani)

Distribution. Endemic to Madagascar , where occurs in a narrow belt along most of W coast.