Search

We report on the occurrence of Choeroniscus godmani (Thomas, 1903) in Brazil and Panama. The Panama record fills a distribution gap for the species in Central America. The three records from Brazil are from the Amazonia in the state of Pará, and from the Cerrado and an Amazonia/Cerrado ecotone in the state of Mato Grosso. At two localities in Brazil, C. minor, a larger species of Choeroniscus, was also recorded. These new records extend the distribution of C. godmani by 2,065 km south to central South America. One of the Brazilian specimens represents the first record of supernumerary incisors in C. godmani.

We characterize the bat fauna of forested sites in the municipality of Domingos Martins, Espírito Santo state, southeastern Brazil, and update the list of bat species of the state. We conducted a rapid inventory using ground-level mist nets (27,000 m²·h effort) and occasional roost searching, which resulted in a list of 23 species belonging to Phyllostomidae (18 species), Vespertilionidae (3), and Molossidae (2). We report the first record of Molossops neglectus Williams & Genoways, 1980 and Myotis lavali Moratelli, Peracchi, Dias & Oliveira, 2011 from Espírito Santo, bringing the total number of confirmed species in the state to 86. The molossid Nyctinomops laticaudatus (É. Geoffroy, 1805) was exclusively recorded in its diurnal roost in rocky outcrops. Our study fills knowledge gaps in the distribution of bat species in southeastern Brazil, and more specifically in the highly diverse coastal Atlantic Forest of Espírito Santo. These data reinforce the importance of continuously inventorying and documenting bats in the Neotropics.

Specimens of the Neotropical dog-faced bats of the genus Cynomops Thomas, 1920 are poorly represented in museum collections, and the geographical distributions of the eight species are not well known. We report voucher specimens that confirm the presence of C. greenhalli Goodwin, 1958 in the Tropical Wet Forest of Costa Rica. These specimens represent an extension of the distribution into the Caribbean Central America.

Carollia has a complex taxonomic history and is widely distributed in the Neotropics. Species of Carollia appear to have differentiated recently in the late Cenozoic, and present overlapping morphological characters that may not be useful to distinguish among species. Carollia has recently been revised, but only a few specimens representing the Brazilian distribution of Carollia within Brazil were studied. We reviewed specimens of Carollia distributed in several localities of Brazil revisiting previously described morphological characters for species identification, and taxonomic problems within the genus. We found a large degree of overlap between characters previously used to distinguish among species of Carollia, and some of them constitute variation within a same species. We also report new records extending the known distribution of C. benkeithi to farther east of its previously known distribution (Parauapebas, southeastern Pará, and Vitória do Xingu, Pará, eastern Amazonian Brazil) and one record extending the distribution of C. brevicauda south to Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

Large losses of tropical forests result from the flooding of terrestrial ecosystems by mega hydroelectric dams. Because run-of-the-river dams operate based on smaller reservoirs with limited water storage, they have been generally considered less harmful to the environment, but their actual effects on biodiversity have been rarely measured. We herein estimate immediate impacts resulting from the flooding of the run-of-the-river Santo Antônio Hydroelectric on phyllostomid bat assemblages, based on the variation of their richness, abundance and species composition over the first two years after the establishment of the dam. We designed a standardized study integrating temporal sampling in areas that would and would not be flooded, before and after the establishment of the dam. We sampled 12 Pre-flood plots, and 34 plots that remained unflood. Among the non-flood plots, 25 were resampled after the river damming. We captured 3096 bats belonging to 59 species and found that the abundance of fruit bats decreased posterior to the formation of the dam. Moreover, the composition of fruit bats was different between the sampling periods, with a clear segregation of the várzea plots of the pre-flood period. Comparisons between pre- and post-unflood plots revealed that 60% of the plots decreased in abundance of bats, and 68% decreased in abundance of phyllostomid fruit bats. Our results demonstrate that the run-of-the-river dam altered the phyllostomid species composition in the non-flooded areas after the establishment of the dam, reducing the abundance of frugivorous bats. Also, the remaining unflood areas did not incorporate bat assemblages from the várzea forests that were permanently flooded by the reservoir. Based on our results, we suggest that environmental policies regulating the licensing processes for the implementation of large hydroelectric power stations should include orientation for the establishment of protected areas, as a condition for their operation. These areas can work as systematic instruments for biodiversity conservation, with special attention to the protection of the irreplaceable floodplain forests.

Eumops maurus and Eumops hansae are rarely captured Neotropical molossid bats for which information on taxonomy, natural history, and spatial distribution are scarce. This translates into a poor understanding of their ecology and limits the delimitation of useful characters for their identification. Here, we describe records of these two molossids from the Central Brazilian Amazon, providing data on their external and craniodental morphology, DNA barcode (COI) sequences complemented by acoustic data for the species. Morphological characters, DNA sequence data and phylogenetic relationships within the genus Eumops were consistent with those previously described for both species. Echolocation call characteristics did not differ significantly so as to be useful for separating E. maurus and E. hansae from other congeners. Our records are, respectively the first and the second for Central Amazonia as one individual previously attributed to Eumops amazonicus from Manaus may be considered a junior synonym for E. hansae. These new records increase the extent of the species’ known ranges, partially filling in previous existing gaps in their distribution in central South America. Our data further suggest that these molossid bats forage in a wider range of habitats than previously thought.

The modification of Amazonian rivers by the construction of megaprojects of hydroelectric dams has widely increased over the last decade. Robust monitoring programs have been rarely conducted prior to the establishment of dams to measure to what extent the fauna, and its associated habitats may be affected by upcoming impacts. Using bats as models, we performed analyses throughout the area under the influence of the Santo Antônio hydroelectric dam, Southwestern Brazilian Amazonia before its construction to estimate how the fauna and its associated habitats would be affected by the upcoming impacts. We surveyed bats in 49 plots distributed along the areas going to be inundated by the dam and those remaining dry. As predictors for the species distribution, we tested the variables of vegetation structure and topography. Species composition largely differed between the dry plots and the plots located in areas that will be flooded, and this was strongly associated with the variables of forest basal area and elevation. Vegetation-related variables also had strong influence on the guilds distribution. The flooding of lower elevations areas is expected to negatively affect the species number and abundance of frugivorous species. In contrast, it is likely that animalivores will be less vulnerable to dam-induced flooding, since they were abundant in the areas not expect to be inundated. We urge for the implementation of studies to predict impacts caused by large hydroelectric dams, including tests of the influence of the local conditions that shape diversity to avoid massive losses of the biota, and to build preventive monitoring and management actions.