Sphaeronycteris toxophyllum Peters, 1882

Velazco, Paúl M., Voss, Robert S., Fleck, David W. & Simmons, Nancy B., 2021, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 4: Bats, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2021 (451), pp. 1-201 : 111

Sphaeronycteris toxophyllum Peters, 1882

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL = 1): Estación Biológica Madre Selva (MUSM 32955); see table 47 for measurements.

12 Tuttle misidentified his specimens of Platyrrhinus infuscus as Vampyrops vittatus (see Koopman, 1978).

UNVOUCHERED OBSERVATIONS: None.

IDENTIFICATION: Sphaeronycteris is a widespread monotypic genus that occurs from eastern Colombia and Venezuela southward into the western Amazon basin of Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia (Simmons, 2005; Angulo et al., 2008; Gardner, 2008g). Sphaeronycteris toxophyllum is easily distinguished from other stenodermatines by the presence of the following characteristics: a large, sexually dimorphic fleshy protuberance on the forehead that extends forward above the eyes and noseleaf in males (this structure is present but much smaller in females); a large fold of skin around the neck in males (present but smaller in females); and white spots on the shoulders (Angulo et al., 2008; López-Baucells et al., 2018). Descriptions and measurements of Sphaeronycteris have been provided by Husson (1958), Swanepoel and Genoways (1979), Angulo and Díaz (2004), Rodríguez-Posada and Cardenas-Gonzales (2012), and Gallardo et al. (2014). No subspecies are currently recognized (Angulo et al., 2008).

The single voucher we examined (a fluid-preserved specimen) is unambiguously identifiable as Sphaeronycteris toxophyllum based on the external characters listed above and external measurements that fall within the range of size variation previously documented for this species.

REMARKS: The single individual known from our region was captured in a ground-level mistnet in várzea (seasonally inundated riparian forest) about 50 m from the Río Orosa (Angulo and Díaz, 2004).