Rhinophylla pumilio Peters, 1865

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 : 88-89

Rhinophylla pumilio Peters, 1865

Figure 22B

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL = 33): Estación Biológica Madre Selva (MUSM 31517, 31617), Jenaro Herrera (AMNH 278487; CEBIOMAS

108; MUSM 841–844, 858, 859), Nuevo San Juan (AMNH 272767, 272845, 272868, 273041, 273137, 273158, 273159; MUSM 13245–13247, 15260–15263), Quebrada Blanco (MUSM 21243, 21245–21246), Quebrada Sábalo (MUSA 15233, 15235), Quebrada Vainilla (LSUMZ 28434, 28435), Río Blanco (MUSA 15081, 15086); see table 37 for measurements.

UNVOUCHERED OBSERVATIONS: During the Sierra del Divisor Rapid Biological Inventory, Rhinophylla pumilio was captured at Divisor (two individuals) and Tapiche (one individual) (Jorge and Velazco, 2006). Additionally, we captured three individuals at Frog Valley on 17 February 2019. This species was also recorded using acoustic methods during the CEBIO bat course at Jenaro Herrera.

IDENTIFICATION: Rhinophylla pumilio is easily distinguished from other congeners by the following combinations of characteristics: margin of uropatagium naked; forearm ≥ 33 mm; inner upper incisors relatively broad, with three or four well-defined lobes; and no gap between the outer upper incisor and the canine (McLellan and Koopman, 2008; López-Baucells et al., 2018). Descriptions and measurements of R. pumilio have been provided by Husson (1962, 1978), Hill (1964), Carter (1966), Marinkelle and Cadena (1972), Swanepoel and Genoways (1979), Williams and Genoways (1980a), Brosset and Charles-Dominique (1990), Simmons and Voss (1998), Lim et al. (2005), Rinehart and Kunz (2006), and Velazco and Patterson (2019). No subspecies are currently recognized (McLellan and Koopman, 2008).

Ascorra et al. (1993), Fleck et al. (2002), and Medina et al. (2015) correctly identified their material from Jenaro Herrera, Nuevo San Juan, Quebrada Sábalo, and Río Blanco as Rhinophylla pumilio . The voucher material we examined from the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve conforms to previous descriptions of R. pumilio , with measurements that fall within the range of size variation previously documented for the species.

REMARKS: Of 35 recorded nocturnal captures of Rhinophylla pumilio accompanied by ecologi- cal information, 32 were in ground-level nets and 3 were in elevated nets. Of these combined mistnet captures, 24 were made in primary forest, 5 in secondary vegetation, 2 in clearings, and 4 on river beaches.

We found four roosting groups of Rhinophylla pumilio , all of them in foliage, near Nuevo San Juan. The first roost, encountered on 10 July 1998, consisted of a single adult male in a tent made from the leaf of a hemiepiphytic aroid (? Philodendron sp. ) about 6 m above the ground on the trunk of a Cecropia tree in secondary vegetation; this tent had previously been occupied by a group of four Artibeus gnomus , which were collected on 8 July 1998 (see below). The second group, encountered on 4 September 1999, consisted of an adult male and an adult female in a tent made from the leaf of another hemiepiphytic aroid 11 about 2 m above the ground on the trunk of a large tree in valley-bottom primary forest. The third roosting group, encountered on 11 October 1999, consisted of four individuals (of which two adult females and a juvenile female were collected) in a tent made from the bifid leaf of an understory palm ( Geonoma sp. ) in primary upland forest. The fourth group, encountered on 17 October 1999, consisted of four individuals (of which one adult male and two adult females were collected) in a tent made from the leaf of an unidentified hemiepiphyte on the trunk of a tree in primary upland forest.

Rhinophylla pumilio is the only non-stenodermatine phyllostomid known to roost in modified-foliage shelters (“tents”), but it is not known whether or not this species itself modifies leaves for this purpose. Our observation of R. pumilio roosting in a leaf tent previously occupied by Artibeus gnomus is the second known case of this species appropriating such a shelter following the removal of its stenodermatine inhabitants (Simmons and Voss [1998: 96] reported R. pumilio roosting in a tent previously occupied by Meso-

11 Possibly the same species as the hemiepiphyte observed in 1998. According to the hunter who accompanied D.W.F., this plant is called senad chispan dawë in the Matses language.

phylla macconnelli ). Both observations are consistent with the suggestion by Charles-Dominique (1993) that Rhinophylla pumilio opportunistically uses shelters made by other species, although it also roosts in unmodified foliage (Henry and Kalko, 2007).

Figures

FIG. 22. Photographs of A, an adult Rhinophylla fischerae and B, an adult R. pumilio, both captured at Jenaro Herrera. Photographs by Marco Tschapka.