Peropteryx leucoptera Peters, 1867

Simmons, Nancy B. & Voss, Robert S., 1998, The mammals of Paracou, French Guiana, a Neotropical lowland rainforest fauna. Part 1, Bats, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 237, pp. 1-219 : 29-33

Peropteryx leucoptera Peters

VOUCHER MATERIAL: 7 females (AMNH *266010, *266011, *267837, *267839; MNHN *1995.820, 1995.821, *1995.822), and 4 males (AMNH *267088, *267280, *267838, MNHN *1995.819); see table 4 for measurements.

IDENTIFICATION: Descriptions and comparative measurments of Peropteryx leucoptera from the Guianas and elsewhere were provided by Sanborn (1937), Husson (1962, 1978), Ochoa (1984), Brosset and Charles­ Dominique (1990), and Jones and Hood (1993). Two subspecies are currently recognized: P. l. leucoptera (southeastern Colombia to the Guianas and northeastern Brazil) and P. l. cyclopes (eastern Peru) (Koopman, 1994).

Our voucher material conforms in all respects to previous descriptions of Peropteryx leucoptera , and measurements of our material fall within the range of size variation previously documented in the Guianas.

FIELD OBSERVATIONS: We captured 14 individuals of Peropteryx leucoptera at Paracou, of which 1 was taken in a ground­level mistnet (in a treefall gap in well­drained primary forest) and the other 13 at roosts. The six roosting groups we found (table 6) occupied four unique roost sites (one roost was revisited twice); all were dark horizontal chambers between buttresses on the undersides of fallen trees (figs. 17, 18) in welldrained primary or selectively logged forest. These roosting groups consisted of two to seven or eight individuals, which were consistently found perching apart from one another (never in a cohesive cluster). Three groups contained at least two adult females each, but we did not capture more than one adult male in any roost. One roost inhabited by a group of P. leucoptera that we collected in 1991 was subsequently occupied by Cor­ mura brevirostris in 1992, and we once found Furipterus horrens simultaneously roosting beneath the same fallen tree as P. leucoptera , but in a different chamber separated by large buttresses. Otherwise, this species was not observed to share roost sites with other bats.

On several occasions we saw bats with white wings, almost certainly Peropteryx leucoptera , flying regular beats 1–2 m above the ground at dusk in our camp clearing.