Glossophaga soricina (Pallas)

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 : 52-54

Glossophaga soricina (Pallas)

VOUCHER MATERIAL: 10 females (AMNH *267134, *267137, *267138, *267448, *267449, *267953, *267956, 267958; MNHN *1995.1040, *1995.1041) and 25 males (AMNH *266090, *266091, *266092, *266093, *266094, *266095, 266099, *267139, *267140, *267949, *267950, *267951, 267954, *267955, 267957, *267959; MNHN *1995.1042, *1995.1043, *1995.1044, *1995.1045, *1995.1046, *1995.1047, 1995.1048, *1995.1049, *1995.1050); see table 15 for measurements.

IDENTIFICATION: The most useful reference for identifying species of Glossophaga is Webster’s (1993) revision, which includes a key as well as detailed descriptions and comparative measurements. Alvarez et al. (1991) provided a good description of G. soricina , but the principal reference for the species is also Webster’s revision. Five subspecies of G. soricina are currently recognized, of which three occur in South America: G. s. handleyi (Mexico throughout Central America to northern and western Colombia), G. s. soricina (South America east of the Andes from Colombia and Venezuela in the north to Paraguay and northern Argentina), and G. s. valens (drier areas of western Ecuador and Peru) ( Alvarez et al., 1991; Webster, 1993; Koopman, 1994). Measurements of specimens taken in the Guianas were reported by Husson (1962, 1978), Brosset and Charles­ Dominique (1990), and Webster (1993).

Our Paracou material conforms in all respects with Webster’s (1993) description of Glossophaga soricina soricina , and their measurements (table 15) fall within the range of variation previously reported for G. soricina in Brazil and the Guianas ( Husson, 1962, 1978; Taddei, 1975b; Brosset and Charles­Dominique, 1990; Webster, 1993).

FIELD OBSERVATIONS: We recorded 56 captures (possibly including some recaptures) of Glossophaga soricina at Paracou, of which 45 were in ground­level mistnets and 11 were at roosts. Seven of the mistnet captures were in well­drained primary forest, 11 were in swampy primary forest, 3 were in creekside primary forest, and 24 were in manmade clearings. The proportional difference in capture­habitat frequencies between this species and Lonchophylla thomasi , the only other common glossophagine at Paracou (see below), is noteworthy: G. soricina was more commonly netted in modified habitats and L. thomasi in primary habitats than would be expected if these sympatric nectarivores did not differ in habitat use (table 16). Although this result is consistent with Brosset and Charles­Dominique’s (1990) characterization of G. soricina as a species of modified biotopes, we note that specimens are in fact known from ecologically pristine localities in French Guiana (e.g., USNM 548471, 548472, collected by L. H. Emmons at Saut Pararé in 1984).

Of the three roosts of Glossophaga soricina we found at Paracou, two were in tree cavities (figs. 25, 26) and one was under un­ der a concrete bridge. The bridge roost contained many G. soricina , perhaps hundreds (of which seven males and one female were collected as vouchers), as well as roosting groups of Rhynchonycteris naso and Carollia perspicillata . One tree cavity roost occupied by an adult male­female pair of G. soricina (fig. 26) was also shared with C. perspicillata ; the other tree cavity roost was occupied a solitary adult male.