Micronycteris (Xenoctenes) hirsuta (Peters, 1869)

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 : 64-65

Micronycteris (Xenoctenes) hirsuta

(Peters, 1869)

Figure 15B

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL = 6): Jenaro Herrera (ROM 122114); Nuevo San Juan (AMNH 273153; MUSM 15213–15216); see table 30 for measurements.

UNVOUCHERED OBSERVATIONS: None.

IDENTIFICATION: Micronycteris hirsuta is a widespread species that occurs from southern Honduras to northern South America, with a disjunct population in southeastern Brazil (Williams and Genoways, 2008; Reid, 2009). Micronycteris hirsuta is easily distinguished from other congeneric species by its large size (forearm> 40 mm, greatest length of skull> 21 mm), and uniquely high-crowned but mesiodistally narrow lower incisors (Simmons et al., 2002: fig. 3B; López-Baucells et al., 2018). Descriptions and measurements of M. hirsuta were provided by Andersen (1906a), Sanborn (1949a), Goodwin and Greenhall (1961), Swanepoel and Genoways (1979), Genoways et al. (1981), Brosset and Charles-Dominique (1990), Simmons (1996), Simmons and Voss (1998), Simmons et al. (2002), Lim et al. (2005), Fonseca et al. (2007), and Larsen et al. (2011). No subspecies are currently recognized, but a revision of the species is needed (Williams and Genoways, 2008).

Fleck et al. (2002), Simmons et al. (2002), and Larsen et al. (2011) correctly identified the specimens from Nuevo San Juan as Micronycteris hirsuta . Voucher material from the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve conforms to previous descriptions of the species, and measurements fall within the previously documented range of intraspecific size variation.

REMARKS: One individual of Micronycteris hirsuta was taken in a ground-level mistnet in secondary vegetation at Jenaro Herrera on 17 January 2012, but the other specimens captured in our region were taken at roosts. We found three roosts of this species near Nuevo San Juan. The first, encountered on 13 October 1999, was a hollow standing tree at the edge of an abandoned Matses swidden; two individuals (of which one adult female was collected) were roosting about 2 m above ground level in the dark interior. The second roost, encountered on 15 October 1999, was a hollow standing tree in primary hilltop forest; three individuals (one adult male, one adult female, and one juvenile male) were roosting 4 m above the ground in the dark interior. The third roost, encountered on 20 October 1999, was a hole in the side of a stream headwater gully, about 1 m in diameter and too deep for the end to be visible; one adult female M. hirsuta and two individuals of M. microtis were collected here.

Most roosts of Micronycteris hirsuta previously reported in the literature have been discovered inside hollow trees (Goodwin and Greenhall, 1961; Tuttle, 1970; Simmons and Voss, 1998).

Figures

FIG. 15. Photographs of A, an adult Micronycteris megalotis and B, an adult M. hirsuta, both captured at Jenaro Herrera. Photographs by Marco Tschapka.